An Adventure in Bethany

The adventure begun in Bethany continues. Whit and Lucy are still living out a story in the ancient land of Judea, traveling with Jesus - Yeshua, as his friends call him - and his disciples. Two days have passed since they carried the sisters' message that Eleazar of Bethany is dying, and Jesus still has not gone to him. Lucy is troubled; she thought Jesus would rush to help someone he loves so much. Whit tells her what he has learned over the years: Jesus does things in his own time and for his own purposes, and even when he seems a few days too late, he works things out. Then Jesus announces that their friend has fallen asleep and he is going to wake him - Eleazar has died, and Jesus says he is glad he was not there, so that his followers may come to trust.

Back in Bethany, Lucy runs ahead and finds Martha sitting in mourning; her brother has been in the tomb four days. Martha hurries out to meet Jesus and cries that if he had been there, her brother would not have died. Jesus answers, "I am the resurrection and the life," and Martha declares her belief that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. Miriam comes weeping, and Jesus weeps with her. At the tomb he orders the stone taken away, and suddenly Lucy recognizes the story she has been standing inside all along - Eleazar is Lazarus, and Martha and Miriam are the Martha and Mary of the Bible. Jesus thanks his Father, calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and the dead man walks into the sunlight alive.

At the joyful celebration, Whit explains that he kept the Hebrew names to make the adventure authentic, and Lucy admits she feels silly for worrying - as we all do, Whit says, when we don't trust Jesus as we should. But the adventure is not over. Whit moves them ahead to the days just before Passover, where two rabbis, Jeduthun and Ishod, badger Lazarus with questions. They bring dark news: the religious leaders have decided it is better for one man to die than for the whole nation to be destroyed, and they are planning the deaths of both Jesus and Lazarus himself. Lazarus laughs at the threat - he has already tasted death, and Yeshua has made it nothing.

That evening everyone gathers for a feast at the home of Simon the leper. Miriam, haunted by dreams that something terrible will happen to the Master at Passover, anoints Jesus with a jar of costly perfume. Judas protests the waste, but Jesus defends her: she has kept it for the day of his burial, and what she has done will be told wherever the gospel is preached. Later, fetching water, Lucy is cornered by Rabbi Jeduthun, who offers to pay handsomely to learn where Jesus can be found. Lucy refuses - but the name of the disciple Judas passes between them, and the rabbi looks pleased. Walking home, Lazarus discovers they have been followed by Ishod, sent with a knife to kill him; the shaken rabbi cannot go through with it, insisting he is a priest, not a murderer - but there will be other chances at Passover in Jerusalem.

In the morning Lucy oversleeps and misses saying goodbye to Jesus. From a distance she and Whit watch him ride a young colt toward Jerusalem, just as the prophet Zechariah foretold: "See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey." It is a sad and wonderful sight, for they know what is coming there. Whit says that standing here, watching him ride to Jerusalem, is the best way to end this adventure - and the perfect way to start another one.