Mary Anoints Jesus for Burial

Six days before Passover, Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and wipes them with her hair. Judas objects in the language of concern for the poor, but John exposes his theft and Jesus interprets Mary’s act in relation to burial. Jesus’ statement that the poor are always present echoes Deuteronomy 15:11; it does not cancel the same Torah chapter’s command to open one’s hand generously to the poor. Later Western tradition often conflated Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and the unnamed sinful woman of Luke 7, but the Gospel itself distinguishes these figures.