more than a spontaneous act of love, Mark may have seen in her act the messianic anointing that should have come from the religious authorities, who were busy plotting to kill him. Anointing a guest was a common act of hospitality (Pss 23:5; 141:5; Luke 7:46). Breaking a flask of pure nard was incredibly extravagant. Nard was a perfume made from the roots of a plant that grew in India. [Nard] Fine ointments and perfumes were preserved in alabaster flasks,3 and one broke the slender neck of the flask