Literally: “Why do you give grief/trouble to this woman? For she has worked a good work for me.” See also 5:16 (“Let your light so shine…”). That last line (26:10) is bound to make some Lutherans nervous, right? And yet see James 2:14-18. Perhaps it is helpful to reframe the discussion something along these lines: rather than faith vs. works, a true faith (one lived out) vs. a false faith. (If you are interested in this “faith vs. works” debate (synthesis?), read Galatians… then James… then Romans–in that order.)
For a fuller treatment of v11, see Mark 14:7 and Deuteronomy 15:11. The point seems to be: You can always–and indeed, are obligated to–serve the poor, but the Bridegroom is only here for a time.
“She has prepared me for burial.” This is perhaps the most shocking statement of all. The woman is not just anointing Jesus king and priest, but anointing him for burial. One cannot help but think of the third gift of the magi in 2:11: myrrh (see also Luke 23:56). Just as the death of the Holy Innocents lingered close at Jesus’ birth, so too his own death and burial linger close at this anointing.
This story IS told throughout the world, in all four Gospels, and wherever the good news is told throughout the whole cosmos. We are privileged to enter into the “hearing” of this story.