John 12:7-8

⁷“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

⁸You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”b

John 12 marks a pivot point in the Gospel. Jesus is anointed in Bethany, enters Jerusalem as King, and then speaks of his coming death as a grain of wheat that must fall to bear fruit. The chapter closes with a summary of unbelief and a call to walk in the light. It is the hinge bet