Bethany
Bethany
Among the touching expressions in the story of the Passion of our Lord Christ is what the Scripture says about Him:
“And He left and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there” (Matt. 21:17).
One may ask: What is touching in this phrase?
We say that many rose up against the Lord Christ: the chief priests, the elders of the people, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and many others. And they conspired against Him to kill Him.
Amid these conspiracies that were being plotted against Him, there were faithful hearts that loved Him, in Bethany. Thus, Bethany— in relation to the Lord Christ— represents the faithful hearts that love Him and in which He finds rest.
Amid the troubles He found in the great city of Jerusalem, He found His rest in the village of Bethany. Jerusalem was a great city, but it was filled with conspiracies, filled with noise and tumult and intrigues, and in it were the weary leaders. As for Bethany, there were Lazarus, and Mary and Martha.
Christ loved Lazarus. When he died, He said about him to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.” And when He wept at his tomb, the people said, “See how He loved him.” And Mary and Martha loved Christ: Mary sat at His feet in contemplation, and the other served Him.
Great and mighty Jerusalem did not have a heart as mighty as itself…
Jerusalem, the city of the Great King, drove the Great King away from before her.
“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Jerusalem, to which the Lord had done good, and about which He refused that anyone should swear by it, and over which He wept because of its sin— this Jerusalem did not have loving hearts.
As for Bethany, it was small, but it was filled with love…
Jerusalem had a famous name, and Bethany was without fame. Yet the Lord found His rest there. Perhaps this reminds us of the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews had the fathers and the prophets, the covenants and the promises…
Yet the Lord found His rest among the Gentiles, not among the Jews.
It is good that God has left us a remnant and has not left Himself without a witness. He still has faithful beloved ones, in Bethany.
This Bethany has many examples in the Holy Bible:
The earth was filled with evil before the Flood. All had turned aside and become corrupt and lacked the glory of the Lord, to the extent that God regretted that He had created man. Every person was immersed in his sin, even the sons of God “saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful,” and were corrupted with them.
Amid all the corruption, the Lord was able to lodge in Bethany, in the house of righteous Noah and his sons…
They alone received the Lord in their house, while He felt estranged everywhere. The same situation was with Sodom, which became wholly corrupt. The Lord found a Bethany with Lot.
There are persons who do not leave the Lord, no matter how all leave Him…
Bethany resembles the righteous Joseph; it resembles Elijah the prophet, who said, “I alone am left”; and it resembles the seven thousand knees of whom the Scripture said, “Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom.”
This faithful remnant surrounds Christ when all leave Him. All left Him except those who remained steadfast in His love. For this reason, Christ went to Bethany and lodged there.
He hungered on the way…
When Christ was stirred against by the envious and they thought to kill Him, He went to Bethany. The Scripture says:
“And in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry” (Matt. 21:18).
I marveled when I read this phrase… A person may become hungry at night if he has been fasting all day. But what about one who becomes hungry in the morning?
We understand this only as meaning that He had been fasting the previous day and other days with it. And He spent the night watching and fasting…
It was said about Him at the end of the forty days that He “was afterward hungry.”
From this we understand that when He went to the house of Mary and Martha, He did not eat there. He withdrew Himself and spent His time in contemplation…
Or He spent the time counseling this faithful remnant how they should live after His crucifixion.
Martha was preparing food for Christ, but at that time He was not in need of food…
When a person is sorrowful, and his soul is sorrowful unto death, he cannot eat, even if the most delicious food is set before him…
At that time, many matters occupied Christ’s mind: how to save the world, how to deliver it from sin, how to give Himself for many; how to save even those who were conspiring to kill Him…
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Seven (Issue Seventeen) – 23-4-1976.
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