Pope to Visit the Real Bethany Beyond the Jordan

Back around Christmas of 2012, I wrote a post about Bethany Beyond the Jordan as a pilgrimage site. With the pope's upcoming visit to the Middle East, the media is taking a renewed interest in the place where Jesus was baptized, as the pope plans to make a stop there. While the Washington Post said "the Gospels are not precise about which side of the river the baptism took place on"—the Israeli or Jordanian side—I think the apostle John actually made it pretty clear in his Gospel: "This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing" (John 1:28). 

This video provides a short summary of the data that backs up that claim. It also features two brothers in Christ whom I have enjoyed interviewing and fellowshipping with: Father Nabil Haddad and Armenian Christian, Rustom Mkhjian, who serves as Bethany Beyond the Jordan’s assistant commission director. Listen especially to what the latter says here about Jesus being baptized at the lowest point on earth.