6 Bible Verses about Anointing, Social Custom

But when you fast, groom your hair and wash your face

Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have a meal with him. So, He went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the [dinner] table. [Note: Matt. 23:6]. And when a sinful woman from the town learned that He was having dinner at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster [i.e., stone] jar of liquid perfume, and stood behind Jesus, at His feet, crying. She began wetting His feet with her tears and wiping them dry with the hair of her head. Then she kissed His feet and poured the perfume on them.read more.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who touched him and what kind of a woman she was --- a sinner."

Then Mary took about a pint of expensive, aromatic perfume; [it was] genuine nard [Note: This was a sweet-smelling herb] and poured [some of] it on Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair. The [whole] house was filled with the fragrant scent of the perfume.

Now when the Sabbath day was over [i.e., after sunset on Saturday evening], Mary from Magdala; Mary the mother of James [i.e., the "other Mary" of Matt. 28:1, who was probably Jesus' mother. See Matt. 27:56]; and Salome [i.e., the mother of James and John and wife of Zebedee. See Matt. 27:56], bought spices [i.e., consisting of aloes and other aromatic perfumes] in order to apply them to His body [i.e., as a means of embalming].

Now when Jesus was at Bethany [Note: This was a small village less than two miles east of Jerusalem], in the house of Simon, the man [who probably had been healed] of an infectious skin disease, a woman with an alabaster [i.e., stone] jar of very expensive perfume came to Him and poured it on His head as He reclined at the dinner table. [Note: See Matt. 23:6] But when His disciples saw this they were very upset and said, "What is the reason for such waste?read more.
For this perfume could have been sold for a large sum of money and given to poor people." But Jesus was aware [of what they were up to], so said, "Why are you bothering this woman? For she has done a kind deed to me. You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me. For in the act of pouring this perfume on my body she was preparing it for my burial.

After this happened, one of Jesus' disciples (but secretly, for fear of the Jews), named Joseph from Arimathaea, asked Pilate if he could remove Jesus' body [from the cross]. Pilate granted him permission, so he went and removed the body from the cross. Nicodemus, the man who first came to Jesus one night, also went with him [i.e., to claim Jesus' body]. He brought about a seventy-five pound mixture of myrrh and aloes [i.e., aromatic spices used for embalming]. So, they took Jesus' body and wrapped it in linen cloths, with spices, according to customary Jewish burial practices.