A. An unnamed woman’s actions: 3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
B. Concern for the poor: 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.”
C. Rebuke: And they scolded her.
C.1 Rebuke: 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone.”
B.1 Concern for the poor: “Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.
A.1 An unnamed woman’s actions: 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
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This story is placed between the telling of how Jesus will die – the leaders (14:1-2) working with Judas 14:10-11). Jesus’ death is the theme of it all.
B and B1 both have a question – “why” which focuses on whether the ointment was wasted or not, and a “for” statement that focuses on the poor.
Verse 7 has a chiastic arrangement:
a. For you always have the poor with you,
b. and whenever you want, you can do good for them.
a1. But you will not always have me.”
Christian teaching 
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