Jesus Anointed at Bethany
6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
I find this fascinating. It deepens my interest in the question of the day for me, concerning Judas Iscariot – the one who betrayed Jesus.
The woman is doing the deed for her own reasons, which Jesus understood quite well, which is explained by Luke in Chapter 7 of the Gospel written by him. Yet Jesus understands also that is to prepare him for burial. In other references to this event, Matthew 26 and Mark 14, the following verses tell of Judas Iscariot going to the Pharisees to broker the deal – 30 pieces of silver in exchange for betraying Jesus.
Judas had his reasons for betraying Jesus. Elsewhere in the gospel of John we read that he was the money keeper, and would steal from the purse for his own use.
