Bible Passage: Mark 14:1-9
So there we were, in Bethany, and what a strange evening it was!
Bethany was packed, of course. People always travel up to Jerusalem for Passover, and there's never enough room in the city itself; so Bethany, not too far away, became more like a town for those few days and you stayed wherever you could. We'd travelled in and found lodging, together with many others, with a man named Simon.
Anyway, come the evening and we're gathered in the room, not just us of course - there was a party from of all places Galilee staying there too. We assumed they were like us, pilgrims come up for the festival, but they were a bit different - there was one man who they kept referring everything to, he seemed to be their leader. I got chatting to one of them, bit of a sullen chap, said his name was Judas. He reckoned they'd been there a few days already, and that the leader - Jesus - had been causing some trouble in the temple. He didn't really say what, maybe he's just said something out of turn, I don't know, but you could see that Judas was worried; the rest of them were talking quite animatedly, but he was a bit on edge. I don't know why he's concerned to be honest - there's that many pilgrims around that so long as he keeps his head down a bit they'll never find him in the crowd anyway.
Suddenly there was a commotion. A woman appeared, carrying a jar; I wondered if she was one of the servants, but she went straight up to Jesus, who was sitting at the table. Then I saw that it wasn't a jar for wine or something; it was an Alabaster Jar, and that meant something precious. She broke it open, and before anyone could stop her she poured the lot all over Jesus head - not just a few drops, the whole lot! And when I got a whiff of it I was amazed - it smelt like it was nard, and you know how much that costs - most people would have to work for a year to buy a jar of it like she had. It was running down his hair, into his beard, onto his back... Complete uproar! None of us could understand what she was playing at.
I asked Judas about it, and he looked quite grim. Said that Jesus had been going around doing lots of teaching, and that there were quite a few followers now and she must be one of them. I wondered what sort of thing he must be teaching to inspire that - and you could hear a lot of muttering. If Jesus really wanted to help people, he'd have stopped her, got her to sell the nard, and used the money for something else - such a waste to just tip it over his head. There'd have been no bother selling it either - it's the sort of thing used a lot in burials after all.
But then Jesus spoke, quietened everyone down. He seemed... not exactly pleased, but appreciating what the woman had done. After all, whatever else it was, it was certainly an extravagant gift. You couldn't wonder if she was mad though - who in their right minds would use something like that on even a great teacher. Who would give so much for someone else? But like I say, he seemed to appreciate what she had done. He actually said that she would always be remembered, that she had anointed him ready for burial; why he said that I don't know, he looks healthy enough.
The other Galileans started talking amongst themselves, asking what this all meant, but I found that Judas wasn't doing much of the talking. He looked sick, like he couldn't believe what was going on; and I noticed, later on as we were getting ready to sleep, that he'd slipped away - though he was back by morning. I don't think he's going to stick with Jesus much longer - you really get the feeling that he's had enough of this, and that this might be the last straw. Still, it's time to think of other things now - such as where are we going to be able to celebrate Passover. There's not much time before the sacrifice, after all.
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