Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 26:12

"For in that she poured this ointment upon my body, she did it to prepare me for burial." — Matthew 26:12 (ASV)

The anointing does not designate Jesus as Messiah but “prepares” him for his burial after dying the death of a criminal, for only in that circumstance would the customary anointing of the body be omitted. Jesus’ defense of the woman does not necessarily mean that the woman understood what she was doing, though it allows this. Jesus may well be using the anointing to intimate again his impending crucifixion (cf. v.2). Jesus ends this incident by stating that the woman and her deed would be remembered wherever the Gospel of the kingdom is preached.