Bethany was a small village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about fifteen stadia from Jerusalem, a little less than two miles. It stood along the road that connected Jerusalem to Jericho.
There lived the siblings Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, close friends of Jesus. It was the place where he most often stayed near the capital, away from the hostility of the religious authorities in Jerusalem.
It was in Bethany that Jesus performed one of his greatest signs: he called Lazarus, dead for four days, out of the tomb. The miracle revealed his power over death and hastened the religious leaders’ plan to kill him.
Days before the crucifixion, Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with very expensive perfume, an act of devotion that he connected to his own burial. In his last week in Jerusalem, Bethany was where Jesus spent the nights with his disciples.
After his resurrection, it was also near Bethany that Jesus blessed the disciples for the last time and ascended into heaven. The place thus holds both the memory of Jesus’ friendship and the beginning and end of his final days on earth.
