1. It was now only two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and teachers of the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus without the people seeing it. Then they could kill him.
2. They said, “But we cannot arrest Jesus during the festival. We don’t want the people to be angry and cause a riot.”
3. Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper. While he was eating there, a woman came to him. She had an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume made of pure nard. She opened the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head.
4. Some of the followers there saw this. They were upset and complained to each other. They said, “Why waste that perfume?
5. It was worth a full year’s pay. It could have been sold and the money given to those who are poor.” And they told the woman what a bad thing she had done.
6. Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you giving her such trouble? She did a very good thing for me.
7. You will always have the poor with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
8. This woman did the only thing she could do for me. She poured perfume on my body before I die to prepare it for burial.
9. The Good News will be told to people all over the world. And I can assure you that everywhere the Good News is told, the story of what this woman did will also be told, and people will remember her.”
10. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, went to talk to the leading priests about handing Jesus over to them.