And while he was at Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.  But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Some said, ‘So wasteful an act!’

Yeshu knew what they were muttering. ‘No, it is not. Such an act of worship while I am still alive is just lovely, and it is so heartfelt as to be without care for either expense or public opinion. Moreover what you say about the poor is different from what some of you are actually thinking!’

Read on to discover how one of them wanted money for himself, not for the poor.