Bethany, Where Jesus Raised Lazarus. A resurrection that foretells a greater resurrection. It happened here at Bethany. This is the place where the Lord wept over the death of his friend, Lazarus, and …More
Bethany, Where Jesus Raised Lazarus.
A resurrection that foretells a greater resurrection. It happened here at Bethany. This is the place where the Lord wept over the death of his friend, Lazarus, and resurrected him. The place where the entire humanity of Christ emerges, and where he completes the final miracle of his Passion and his death.
Father SABINO CHIALA, Community of Bose: “By the ancient Church it was always seen as a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Jesus, and, in fact, the liturgies of the Eastern Churches recall this Gospel precisely just before entering into the Great Week, that is, into Holy Week. This resurrection unchains a negative reaction on the part of the heads of the people which is precisely what leads to the death of Jesus.”
In Bethany, today a village almost completely Muslim, stands a Franciscan basilica built on the ruins of earlier churches, the earliest dating from the fourth century. Next to this church, pilgrims descend to the ruins of what is traditionally venerated as the tomb of Lazarus.
Although somewhat isolated and now inexorably surrounded by the Israeli security wall, the village of Bethany, or Al Azarieh (which in Arabic means House of Lazarus), is still able to speak to the heart of the Christian pilgrim who, come so far, feels himself reliving the hospitality and the friendship of those three siblings…
Father SABINO CHIALA, Community of Bose: “Bethany for Jesus was also the place in which he was able to find the sentiments of friendship and I think that, once again, Chapter 11 of John gives us an extraordinary passage with regard to this: Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God, when he knows that Lazarus is dead begins to weep. Bethany is also the place of the humanity of Jesus. It is the place where Jesus shows his humanity, he who is the Son of God but who also needs the love of man.”
Jesus brings Lazarus back to life a few days before entering Jerusalem, where he would fulfill the destiny for which he was sent. And on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, on the ancient road which lead to Bethany, stands the Franciscan sanctuary of Bethpage, restored into its present form in 1954. Here both the encounter of Jesus with Mary and Martha before the resurrection of Lazarus and the beginning of Jesus’ journey and triumphal entrance into Jerusalem are commemorated. And it is precisely from here that, every year, on Palm Sunday, in the wake of a centuries long tradition, the great procession of local Christians and pilgrims, to Jerusalem unfurls…
Father SABINO CHIALA, Community of Bose: “All that which happens in the entrance, according to the narrative of the Synoptics, and according to the narrative of the Fourth Gospel, is trying to tell us something about the messianic identity of Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah, Son of David, but he does not come to Jerusalem on warhorses, he does not come to Jerusalem like the ancient kings of Israel. He selects another symbol. He chooses the symbol of a donkey, that is of a humble animal, and this is why it recalls the prophecy of Zachariah. Therefore, in this gesture, he tell us also what type of Messiah he has come to present and what Messiah God meant him to be.
A resurrection that foretells a greater resurrection. It happened here at Bethany. This is the place where the Lord wept over the death of his friend, Lazarus, and resurrected him. The place where the entire humanity of Christ emerges, and where he completes the final miracle of his Passion and his death.
Father SABINO CHIALA, Community of Bose: “By the ancient Church it was always seen as a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Jesus, and, in fact, the liturgies of the Eastern Churches recall this Gospel precisely just before entering into the Great Week, that is, into Holy Week. This resurrection unchains a negative reaction on the part of the heads of the people which is precisely what leads to the death of Jesus.”
In Bethany, today a village almost completely Muslim, stands a Franciscan basilica built on the ruins of earlier churches, the earliest dating from the fourth century. Next to this church, pilgrims descend to the ruins of what is traditionally venerated as the tomb of Lazarus.
Although somewhat isolated and now inexorably surrounded by the Israeli security wall, the village of Bethany, or Al Azarieh (which in Arabic means House of Lazarus), is still able to speak to the heart of the Christian pilgrim who, come so far, feels himself reliving the hospitality and the friendship of those three siblings…
Father SABINO CHIALA, Community of Bose: “Bethany for Jesus was also the place in which he was able to find the sentiments of friendship and I think that, once again, Chapter 11 of John gives us an extraordinary passage with regard to this: Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God, when he knows that Lazarus is dead begins to weep. Bethany is also the place of the humanity of Jesus. It is the place where Jesus shows his humanity, he who is the Son of God but who also needs the love of man.”
Jesus brings Lazarus back to life a few days before entering Jerusalem, where he would fulfill the destiny for which he was sent. And on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, on the ancient road which lead to Bethany, stands the Franciscan sanctuary of Bethpage, restored into its present form in 1954. Here both the encounter of Jesus with Mary and Martha before the resurrection of Lazarus and the beginning of Jesus’ journey and triumphal entrance into Jerusalem are commemorated. And it is precisely from here that, every year, on Palm Sunday, in the wake of a centuries long tradition, the great procession of local Christians and pilgrims, to Jerusalem unfurls…
Father SABINO CHIALA, Community of Bose: “All that which happens in the entrance, according to the narrative of the Synoptics, and according to the narrative of the Fourth Gospel, is trying to tell us something about the messianic identity of Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah, Son of David, but he does not come to Jerusalem on warhorses, he does not come to Jerusalem like the ancient kings of Israel. He selects another symbol. He chooses the symbol of a donkey, that is of a humble animal, and this is why it recalls the prophecy of Zachariah. Therefore, in this gesture, he tell us also what type of Messiah he has come to present and what Messiah God meant him to be.