Bethany was a little hill country town strategically located on the eastern slopes of the mount of Olives. In the ancient of days, it was a quiet small humble town that became mainly inhabited by a close-knit poor community that lived in great warmth and novel intimacy. Lowly Bethany was beautifully situated less than two miles from Jerusalem and sat at a critical edge of the wilderness of Judea and the barren hills that descended eastwards towards the Dead Sea. The primary Hebrew meaning of the name Beth-any is, house of the broken, house of the humble, house of poverty, house of humility, house of the hurting or house of mourning. It is this particular brokenness of the poor people in Bethany that especially makes her such a spiritual icon for the present-day church to imitate, in order that Jesus may find a home in her. It will have to take the recognition of this hidden treasure of brokenness for one to pick out the key feature that drew Jesus to this little community of Bethany. It is true that the church today has largely lost this initial humble brokenness that Jesus laid before her, thereby failing to attract the kindness of God’s favour that Bethany enjoyed. It is noteworthy that for Jesus to call a place home, that place must have earned the complete blessing of the Lord God Almighty himself. Such was the humbleness at Bethany that brought the hearts of the people into a contrite faith in Jesus (Isaiah 66:1-3). Being largely a poor and broken community, Bethany desperately needed Jesus, as compared to flamboyant Jerusalem which did so well to extent that they did not seem to have room for Jesus. Tragically, while Jerusalem lost her favour with the Lord, Bethany on the other hand grasped the moment of her visitation and warmly welcomed the King into their homes.
Today’s church too, appears to have taken up the character of Jerusalem in which humbleness is something of the past and pride reigning high. Perhaps it is this haughtiness that has blocked today’s church from enjoying a fully fledged favour with the Lord thereby giving way to desolation.
The humbleness that prevailed in this poor little village town of Bethany became a humongous spiritual asset since it served as the primodial base for a massive revival that was later to consume this community (Luke 19:37). It is amazing that from this point on, Jesus always operated from Bethany, and returning there for evening rest on every subsequent day whenever he had the privilege to retract from the multitude (Mark 11:1-18). The church today needs to grasp the things that matter most to our Lord Jesus. We see here that humility and simple receptiveness by opening our hearts to the Lord Jesus, can go a long way in establishing for him an acceptable home in our lives. There are many things in this post-modern era that have barred the church from realizing this noble intimacy that Bethany enjoyed with Jesus.
Is today’s church Built on the Rock ....
What is particularly much more spiritually intriguing about Bethany, is the rocky subterrain on which she is built. The area and its immediate vicinity is parched with a strong touch of rocky subterrain that acts as a reminder of the close proximity to the peeping Judean desert. This desert is of great spiritual treasure to the church of Christ because it is the place out of which Jesus built the church through prayer and fasting. For the people of Bethany, this Judean wilderness was synonymous with the voice crying out in the wilderness while saying; “Prepare the way of the Lord
and make straight his highway.” Even much more interesting is the fact that when Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, he obtained the building blocks from this very wilderness.
What must immediately have come to mind in the hearts of the people in Bethany, is the swading humbleness of John the Baptist presentation as he announced the coming of he whom they had welcomed. Perhaps if John the Baptist had presented a more sophisticated image, the people of
Bethany would have shied away and felt unqualified to receive the King. But, the simplicity of John the Baptist as a forerunner must have most definitely opened the hearts of the people in Bethany to the simple yet mighty King. Moreover, the hard rock that identifies this mountain slope
testifies of the age-long endurance and seasoning that the mount of Olives has lived to see. Erosive forces had practically washed away any loose substratum on this mountain thereby leaving only an impervious rock that persisted on, year in year out. Because this mountain faces the closed Eastern Gate of Jerusalem, it is often referred to as a significant spiritual monument.
That Jesus loved taking time out alone on the mount of Olives in order to pray to God the Father and get ministered to by the Holy Spirit, makes this mountain on which Bethany is located to be of great spiritual value and symbolism. To the church, there is a lot to learn from the disposition of
Bethany at this location. This is because the spiritual testimonial that the Mount of Olives portrays,is the Cornerstone of Zion who is the Rock of Ages that Jerusalem rejected. The present-day church must remember that Jerusalem rejected Jesus, the Cornerstone of Zion, on the one and
only exceptional day of their grand visitation (Matthew 23:37-38). If this is what the mount of Olives stood for spiritually, then it becomes vividly apparent that the little town of Bethany built herself on the Rock of Ages. With such a firm foundation, then one can now understand why a massive revival hit this town and remained unshakable. Bethany was not built on sand but on the Rock that is Jesus (Matthew 7:24-27). By Bethany hearing the Word of the Lord and putting it into practice, this little humble community must have been a wise people who built their houses on the Rock. That means the fear of the Lord reigned in Bethany compared to Jerusalem that had no fear whatsoever of the Lord. The church of Christ today has tragically repeated the same Jerusalem mistake by lacking the fear of the Lord and hence taking him totally for granted. In today’s church, there are lots of theologians that are propelling the different school of thought like did the learned Pharisees and Sadducees of Jerusalem. What makes matters worse is that some of these Sadducees did not believe in the Spirit of the Lord, an exact replica of what has
resurfaced in the mega churches of today. In a nutshell, it is justified to say that the present-day church of Christ is still in Jerusalem and hence facing the great desolation. Only upon getting to her spiritual Bethany, will today’s church see a massive revival. It must be remembered that
Jerusalem built its house on sand and that is why the wind came and blew it away. That Bethany built her house on the Rock, is not only still admirable today, but also greatly anticipating the mighty return of the Lord through this town. Furthermore, the failure of other vegetation to adapt
to this unique climatic experience in Bethany, resulted into the over-dominance by Olive trees. The Olive tree has for a long time been the source of the sacred anointing oil with which the priesthood was sanctified. However, its over-dominance on the mount of Olives, relays the spiritual message of long endurance with which those who are anointed of the Holy Spirit are expected to serve God. Just like it takes so long for the Olive tree to establish, and much longer for it to yield the fruit, while even much more delayed is the ripening of her fruit, so it is with the building of a Holy Spirit-led christian walk. It is the slow but otherwise very steady process of spiritual growth that finally matures the christian across the hardships presented by this dark world. Upon achieving a steady christian growth, the church can then attain spiritual maturity at which she will then begin to yield the fruit of the Spirit. When the Olive fruit matures, it even takes longer for it to ripen, and requires much patience during the tedious crushing process that very slowly begins to exude very little drops of the virgin olive oil. So it is with the church, that she may allow herself to patiently go through the spiritual ripening process, and permit her being crushed for the beautiful anointing of the Lord to exude throughout her life. Our Lord Jesus went through the long and tortuous process of bringing to Calvary maturity, the ministry that redeemed mankind. It is at Calvary that he allowed himself to be thoroughly crushed in order to exude the precious sacred anointing oil of worship that pleased the Lord God. The church too needs to emulate the brokenness that crushed Bethany to the extent that she acceptably and rightfully worshipped the Lord Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can impart on today’s church the Olive tree kind of spiritual perseverance with which she needs to establish her foundation on the Rock that is Jehovah God. Only this Cornerstone of Zion can offer stable enough foundation for today’s church to stop wavering back and forth between the christian walk and the world. And when the present-day church of Christ will establish her foundation on the Rock, like Bethany, will she experience a mighty Revival.