Bethany survey with photos

Jesus spent the night in Bethany during the early part of the Week of Passion, almost certainly in the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Jesus was also anointed at Bethany one week before his crucifixion (John 12:1-11). Because the population of Jerusalem and surrounding communities has grown so much in recent decades, it is very difficult to re-create the rural setting of Bethany Jesus would have known. The village was on the eastern slope of the Mt. of Olives. Jerusalem lay just over the hill, across from the western side of the Mt. of Olives.