In her memory – Day 13

₁It was now two days before the Festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death. ₂“We must not do it during the festival,” they said, “or the people might riot.”

₃Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with an alabaster jar full of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus' head. ₄Some of the people there became angry and said to one another, “What was the use of wasting the perfume? ₅It could have been sold for more than 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor!” And they criticized her harshly.

₆But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a fine and beautiful thing for me. ₇You will always have poor people with you, and any time you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me. ₈She did what she could; she poured perfume on my body to prepare it ahead of time for burial. ₉Now, I assure you that wherever the gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

₁₀Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Jesus to them. ₁₁They were pleased to hear what he had to say, and promised to give him money. So Judas started looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them.