Bethany: Today, the village of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary is called el-‘Ezariyyeh—the village of ‘Azar in Arabic, Eleazar in Hebrew, that is, of Lazarus.
Of the three siblings, however, Lazarus is the most reserved. The Gospels do not record any conversation between Lazarus and his friend Jesus—whereas they devote long passages to his sisters. The most famous of these passages remains the episode recounted by Saint Luke, which presents Martha busy with her duties while her younger sister hangs on the Master’s every word: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.” (Lk 10:41).
In Chapter 11 of the Gospel of John, we find the two sisters in tragic circumstances: the death of their brother Lazarus.
“Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.”
Jn 11:1
The two sisters sent word to Jesus. He, however, decided to remain where he was: in the vicinity of Jericho, “across the Jordan, at the place where John had first been baptizing” (Jn 10:40). The same Saint John, at the beginning of his Gospel (Jn 1:28), tells us that this place was also called Bethany. Jesus had withdrawn there with his disciples because the atmosphere in Jerusalem had become unbreathable (cf. Jn 10:39). It was not fear of what awaited him in Jerusalem that prompted Jesus to delay his departure, but the desire to strengthen his disciples’ faith through an extraordinary miracle: the resurrection of his friend Lazarus.
This is why Bethany is famous and why pilgrims go there to pay their respects at Lazarus’s (empty) tomb. Today, because Bethany is cut off from Jerusalem by the separation wall, one must take a long detour to the east to reach it. Jesus and his disciples, coming from the Jordan region, also entered Bethany from the east. A church run by the Greek Orthodox Church marks the site of Jesus’ meeting with Martha:
“Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about fifteen stadia away [ca. 3 km]. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home.”
The road continues to another church, this one run by the Franciscans. The church, built by Antonio Barluzzi, was consecrated in the 1950s. Inside, the four corners of the Greek cross-shaped floor plan are covered with mosaics depicting scenes from the lives of Martha, Lazarus, and Mary. Remnants of Byzantine mosaics attest to the presence of several basilicas that stood successively on the same site.
During the Crusades (12th century), Lazarus’s tomb was incorporated into the crypt of a small church that has since been destroyed and converted into a mosque. A narrow staircase leads to the antechamber.
“So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days”.”
Jn 11,38-39
Saint John does not mention this descending staircase, but he does note that the tomb was sealed with a stone. The scene is depicted in a very dramatic manner in the church’s mosaic: the vertical slab is removed, revealing Lazarus, standing and wrapped in bandages, while Jesus cries out in a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out! ” (John 11:43).
