The Anointing of Christ

The passion narrative in the Gospel of Mark continues with an account of a woman who anoints the head of Jesus while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. The ointment was very expensive, prompting those in attendance to rebuke her for "wasting" it. Jesus, however, tells his listeners that what the woman has done was a "beautiful thing," and because of this act, "wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."