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Bethany....
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El-Azariah, an Arabic form of
the name Lazarus, is the modern name of the village of Bethany, which means
the rising from the death.
Jesus came to Bethany time and again to visit his good friends Lazarus,
Mary and Martha. |
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He came to Bethany three times in the last six months of his ministry: one time for Hanukkah (John
10), one time for the raising of Lazarus (John 11), and finally for the Passover. Martha served him dinner while
Mary anointed the Teacher's feet with scented oils. This was his last visit to Bethany, on the next day he began the final pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
(John 12:1-3). until today the tomb of Lazarus is standing and nearby a
big Franciscan church build on the house of Martha and
Mary from the second Temple period. visiting
there we could see also remains of the crusader church and some royal
crusader tombs. |
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In the 1950's Franciscan Fathers built an unusual church atop earlier foundations. They chose to build a church without windows, with the distinct look of a crypt. To recall the "I am the Resurrection and the Life," saying of
Jesus.
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"On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and
Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ‘Lord,' Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died…. Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.' …Jesus…came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,' he said. Then Jesus… called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face."
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