Matthew 26:7

‘There came to him a woman having an alabaster cruse of very valuable perfumed oil, and she poured it on his head, as he reclined at meat.'

As they reclined at the table a woman came in with an alabaster cruse of very valuable perfumed oil (liquid spikenard) and poured it on His head. The thin-necked alabaster vessel, commonly used for such purposes, would be snapped at the neck in order to release the oil. The value of the oil would probably be the equivalent of what a working man could earn in a year (John 12:5).

Her aim in anointing His head was possibly in order to reveal that she saw Him as the Messiah (the Lord's Anointed - compare 1 Samuel 15:17; 2 Kings 9:3), but she may not have been fully conscious of that, and the stress therefore on the anointing of the head may rather be Matthew's and Mark's, who may also have had in mind His High Priesthood (Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:12; Leviticus 21:10). They may well have seen this as God's way of pointing ahead to His coronation (Matthew 28:18). The fact that she also anointed His body (Matthew 26:12) and His feet (John 12:3) suggests that for her it was an act of overwhelming love, made with a desire to pay Him due honour. But the emphasis here is in fact not on her love but on what she has done for Jesus. She has encouraged Him and prepared Him for a proper burial.

This is a rare example of someone doing something for Jesus. Perhaps it echoes Matthew 25:35 with the thought that this was even more unique for it was actually done for Jesus Himself. And yet even then His disciples dared to criticise her!