A woman pours expensive oil on Jesus' head
3 Then Jesus went to Bethany, and he visited Simon at his house. At one time, Simon had had a bad skin disease. While Jesus was eating a meal there, a woman came into the house. She brought a small stone jar that contained expensive oil with a very nice smell. They used nard to make it. The woman broke the jar to open it. Then she poured the oil over Jesus' head.
14:3Simon's disease was called leprosy, but it may be a different skin disease from the one we call leprosy today.
14:3Nard is a plant that people use to make oil that has a beautiful smell. People kept the oil in a special stone jar. The woman had to break the jar so that she could pour out the oil. At the time of the Bible, nard was very expensive in Israel.
4 But some people became angry. They said to each other, ‘This woman should not have wasted the oil. 5 She could have sold it and she could have given the money to poor people. She could have sold it for more than 300 silver coins. A man would have to work for a year to get that much money.’ So they spoke angrily to the woman.
6 But Jesus said, ‘Do not speak to her like that! Do not cause trouble for her. She has done a good thing to me. 7 You will always have poor people with you. You can help them at any time that you want. But you will not always have me with you. 8 This woman did what she was able to do. She poured oil over my body. So now, my body will be ready for people to bury me. 9 I tell you this. Everywhere in the world, people will speak about God's good news. At the same time, they will also tell people about the good thing that this woman has done. And so they will remember her.’
