Beautiful Waste: Mark 14:1-11

Two days before Passover, plots thickened in shadow. The chief priests and teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. "But not during the festival," they said, "or the people may riot."

Meanwhile, in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper, Jesus reclined at table. A woman entered—Mark does not give her name—carrying an alabaster jar of pure nard, perfume worth a year's wages. Without a word, she broke the jar's neck and poured the entire contents over Jesus' head.

The fragrance exploded through the room, thick and sweet, overwhelming. The perfume ran down his hair, his face, his shoulders, pooling on the floor. A year's income, gone in seconds.

Some at the table reacted harshly: "Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." They rebuked her sharply.