The anointing of Jesus in Matthew takes place two days before Passover in the town of Bethany at
Simon the leper’s home: “Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table” (
Matthew 26:6–7, ESV).
Matthew focuses on the anointing of Jesus as a teaching episode for the disciples, who react with anger because of the woman’s wasteful extravagance. But Jesus defends her, saying, “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (
Matthew 26:10). Christ explains that the anointing is to prepare His body for burial and that the woman’s act of love will forever be remembered wherever the good news is preached.