Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, "Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days wages and the money given to the poor?" He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used it to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.
Consideration: A dinner for Jesus at the home of Lazarus; Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with oil and drying them with her hair; Judas complaining about wasting the costly perfume and saying it should have been sold instead; Jesus tells Mary to keep the oil for the day of his burial; and a plot to kill Lazarus and Jesus because many of the Jews believed in Jesus. The day of the crucifixion was drawing near.
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