Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me

 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people."

And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor."  And they criticized her sharply.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.  And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money.  So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

- Mark 14:1-11

"Now learn this parable from the fig tree:  When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.  So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near -- at the doors!  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.  But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.  It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.  Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming -- in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning -- lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.  And what I say to you, I say to all:  Watch!"

 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people."  My study bible explains that the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins with the Passover meal on the evening of 15 Nisan (on the Jewish calendar) and lasts seven days (Exodus 12:12-20).  These two feasts together commemorate Israel's liberation from slavery in Egypt.  The word Passover is used in connection with the "passing over" of Hebrew homes by the angel of death when killing the firstborn of the Egyptians, because the Jews had put lamb's blood on their doorposts (Exodus 12:13).  Unleavened bread as the tradition reminds all of the haste with which the Hebrews left Egypt (Exodus 12:39).  My study bible adds that this Passover was fulfilled in Christ, the Lamb whose blood was shed to free humanity from bondage to sin and death.

And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor."  And they criticized her sharply.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."   My study bible says that Simon the leper must have been healed earlier by Jesus, because lepers were forbidden to live in towns.   It explains that because of her fervent faith, Jesus promises perpetual public memory of this woman who anointed Him for His burial.  There is no traditional consensus of opinion on her identity -- there are similar events reported in Matthew 26:6-13, Luke 7:36-38, and John 12:1-8.  Some commentators say there were three different women in the four accounts, but others say there were only two.

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.  And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money.  So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.   A note tells us that Judas seeks on his own initiative to betray Jesus.  While his motives have been debated, traditional commentary tends to agree that greed was the primary motive.  It is the opinion given in John 12:4-6, where it is stated that Judas was upset by the "waste" of myrrh in the story of the woman with the alabaster flask because he was a thief.  The fact that Judas was one of the Twelve serves as emphasis on the great depth of betrayal here.  Interestingly, one of the Greek texts calls Judas the son of Simon in this passage in John.  Perhaps we might speculate that the betrayal is linked to a rebuke given inside of his family home. 

This story appears in all four Gospels, in one form and another.  As stated above,  the identity of the woman is debated in each story, and how many separate events are really incorporated here.  In John's Gospel, she's certainly identified with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha.  But the really powerful story is of the love that is expressed, and a kind of split in the way in which we might think of things.  Its great importance to the whole of the New Testament is noted simply because of the accounts that appear in all four Gospels.  My study bible notes that John Chrysostom says that the disciples aren't necessarily all wrong in their criticism -- he says that mercy shown to the poor is more fitting than outward signs shown even to God (Matthew 25:40, James 1:27).  But once the gift was given, it was a greater mercy to accept it with love.  Had Christ known of it in advance, says St. Chrysostom, He surely would have directed her otherwise.  But once the gift was given, the only thing to do was to look to the gift itself.  What good would be a rebuke?  The same could be said of  a gift made to a Church of a beautiful ornament.  While the point is well-taken, I think there's something more here.  It's linked to the passage in which Jesus stated that it was harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.  When Jesus teaches him to sell all he has and give it to the poor, it's not an instruction specifically for the poor, it's an instruction given specifically to the rich man for a particular reason.  It teaches us that nothing should keep us back from the fullness of love for God (like attachment to our possessions).  What we can see in this story of the anointing is the depth of simple and straightforward love in the heart of the woman for Christ.  Love trumps everything.  One commentary (Pulpit Commentary) refers to this act (in John's Gospel) as one of "royal self-forgetting love."  The loosening of a woman's hair would have been an act of a depth of humility before Christ, and those at this very public dinner.  What Jesus praises is not the gift, but the depth of love involved.  It's a true gift of anointing for burial, an act of grief and love, like the closest family member, a statement of His central importance to her.  He goes to her defense, really, against all of His disciples; it's not only Judas who criticizes.  His statement about her is a kind of grace we associate with Christ's love for each of us, in His knowledge of our own hearts.  We note Jesus' statement that "she has done what she could."  We are almost at the Cross, and the theme here is given again:  formal observance of the commandments is not enough, there's a deeper level in which faith rests that He seeks.  It rests in love, and it's in the name of this kind of love expressed by this woman that true kindness to the poor is an extension of the love we have for God.  Let us keep in mind that "poor" applies to any kind of poor in any situation; the poor are also "the least of these," the ones with less clout or currency, or even importance, just as she herself may be "poor" among the disciples and the others at dinner here in today's reading, and it is Christ who comes to her defense.  Do we doubt that such a deeply loving heart would deny any help to the poor (particularly in the name of Christ), or lack in kindness and compassion?  Let us remember the power of love and its transcendent power to trump all things.  It's this kind of love that is linked to the fact that with God all things are possible.  In another way, this woman exemplifies what Jesus taught to the lawyer who asked, "Who is my neighbor?"  This is an active love, one that doesn't wait for others to love first or with a motive for gain.  Her anointing of Christ is like a symbolic anointing of grace, imitating God, loving as He has loved us.