All the gospel writers tell of a woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. Mark says it happened two days before the Passover, when an unnamed woman anointed Jesus’ head. The disciples were shocked and angry at the apparent waste.

But more shocking than that was the brief scene preceding the story in Mark 11:1-2, where the “chief priests and teachers of the law were scheming to arrest and kill Jesus.”

But that wasn’t the most shocking part.

We’ve almost gotten used to the idea that Israel’s highest religious leaders were plotting to kill the Son of God, while an unnamed woman poured herself out in an extravagant act of worship, in the home of a leper, no less.

What’s most shocking is how completely powerless the religious leaders really were.

They were determined to kill Jesus, but only after the Passover, “for the people may riot.”

But they were in charge of nothing.

The crucifixion did happen during the festival.

The schedule had been set before the foundation of the world.

The Passover Lamb would be sacrificed on God’s schedule, not theirs.