Bethany Beyond the Jordan
John’s Gospel is careful with its Bethanys. This one is not the village of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus near Jerusalem, but a spot “across the Jordan” – on the river’s east bank – “where John was baptizing” (John 1:28). The name may mean “house of the ford”: a crossing place, which fits both the Baptist’s message and the location’s older echoes. Nearby tradition places Israel’s crossing under Joshua and Elijah’s departure in the whirlwind (2 Kings 2), and John came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17).
It was here that John saw Jesus coming toward him and made the announcement the whole Old Testament had been waiting for: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The first disciples – Andrew, Peter, and the others – were gathered from this riverbank (John 1:35-51). Late in his ministry, when Jerusalem turned hostile, Jesus withdrew “again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first,” and many believed in him there (John 10:40-42).
Excavations at Al-Maghtas on the Jordanian side have uncovered churches, baptism pools, and pilgrim hostels from the earliest Christian centuries, testifying to how long this stretch of river has been venerated as the Baptist’s ground.
In the New Testament
- John identified as baptizing at Bethany across the Jordan (John 1:28)
- “Behold, the Lamb of God” and the calling of the first disciples (John 1:29-51)
- Jesus’ later withdrawal to this place (John 10:40-42)