The Passover Feast and the feast with bread that has no yeast in it was two days later. The chief priests and the scribes planned how to catch Jesus by some trick. They wanted to kill him.
2But they said, `Let us not do it on the day of the feast. We do not want the people to start fighting about it.'
3When Jesus was in the town of Bethany, he was in Simon's house. Simon had leprosy. While Jesus sat at the table, a woman came to him. She had a bottle of oil. It smelled very nice and cost much money. She broke the bottle and poured the oil on Jesus' head.
4Some people there were angry. They said, `Why was this oil wasted like that?
5The oil might have been sold for a lot of money. Then the money could have been given to poor people.' They said to the woman, `You should not have done this!'
6But Jesus said, `Leave the woman alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good thing to me.
7You will always have poor people with you. Any time you want to, you can do good to them. But I will not always be with you.
8She has done what she could. She has put oil on my body to make me ready to be buried.
9I tell you the truth. Any place in the whole world where people tell the good news, people will also tell what she has done. People will remember her because of it.'
