This is another relatively famous anecdote. It is covered in Mark and Matthew, but John provides a lot of interesting details, particularly with the identity of the people involved. In contrast, Mark and Matthew provide general summaries.
Jesus is at Bethany six days before Passover. Lazarus, Martha, and Mary (all siblings) live in Bethany.
Jesus is at a dinner in his honor at the home of Simon the Leper. Martha served the dinner while Jesus and Lazarus reclined at the table.
Mary takes an expensive bottle of pure nard perfume and pours it over Jesus' feet. She wipes the perfume with her own hair.
This is a flashback to prior events with these same characters. It was Mary who was the woman of ill report who had previously cleaned Jesus' feet with her own tears. On another occasion, it was Martha who was making hosting preparations while Mary sat and listened to Jesus.
Back to the story, others seeing this are indignant because the perfume could have been sold and given to the poor. The Gospel of John identifies Judas Iscariot as one of these because he was embezzling money from the group finances.
Jesus stands up for Mary because he is heading to his death and this will be the only anointing is body will receive. Meanwhile, the poor will always be among you. Jesus also praises Mary and states that generations will speak of her because of this.
The name "Mary" is still very common today. I had always assumed it has been historically popular because of Jesus' mother. Here, Jesus is blessing another "Mary". At the very least, this Mary seems to have a far more active role in Jesus' adult ministry while the text has been silent as to Mother Mary for much of Jesus' adult ministry.
Meanwhile, the Pharisees want to re-kill Lazarus because his resurrection had caused a lot of people to follow Jesus.
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