Bethany in the Gospel

And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

The Gospel account of the presence of Jesus in Bethany is very complex and sets different scenes in different places. Bethany is identified as the village of Mary and Martha, where Jesus raises their brother Lazarus, and where he is anointed by Mary in the house of Simon the Leper. The most recent tradition places the house of Marta and Maria where today there is the Franciscan sanctuary and the tomb of Lazarus just a little higher, along the road that climbs along the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The meeting place where Jesus met Martha, is marked by a stone, which since the Middle Ages has been located along the road that goes down to Jericho.