Who is Bethany?

The home of grown siblings Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, Bethany is conveniently located at the foot of the Mount of Olives on the approach to Jerusalem. Jesus first happens upon Bethany in a rainstorm, after battling God and Satan in the desert. Mary and Martha take him in, warm and feed him before the village elders come to meet the stranger. These include huge old Melchizedek, venomous, snake-eyed Samuel, and a stumpy, light-hearted blind man. Other notables gather behind them, and women come to see if the visitor will hit it off with Mary or Martha—or be available to them—but Jesus is too tired to talk. Before the crowd can leave, however, Lazarus arrives with news that King Herod has beheaded John the Baptist.