Chapter Eleven

1–44. The raising of Lazarus. – 45–57. The effect of this miracle on the people, the decision of the Sanhedrin to put Christ to death, and Christ’s withdrawal to Ephraim.

Chapters 11–12 contain an account of facts in which Christ testified about Himself as the Victor over death and as the promised King of Israel. Until now the Lord had chiefly by means of words converted the Jews to the path of faith, but now, since words did not act sufficiently powerfully on His listeners, He bears witness about Himself through extraordinary deeds, namely by raising Lazarus and by His solemn entry into Jerusalem.

John 11:1. Now there was a sick man, Lazarus, from Bethany, from the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. Regarding the residence of the sick Lazarus, “Bethany,” see the comments on Matt 26:6 and Mark 11:1. The evangelist names Lazarus by name because this name was known to readers at least by reputation. Ancient Christian tradition says that Lazarus subsequently lived on the island of Cyprus and was a bishop of the Cypriot Church. There is nothing improbable in this tradition. The raised Lazarus could, in view of the danger threatening him from the Jews (John 12:10), have withdrawn from Bethany, close to Jerusalem, together with Christians who fled to the island of Cyprus after the killing of the deacon Stephen by the Jews (Acts 11:19). The evangelist defines Bethany as a village where “Martha and Mary” lived, rather than as the village where “Lazarus” lived, probably because his readers already knew from the Gospel of Luke that both these sisters lived in one village, but the very name of that village was not yet known (cf. Luke 10:38-42).

John 11:2. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Here Mary, the sister of Lazarus, is more precisely identified. But since the evangelist speaks of her as one whose deed was already known to readers, it is clear that he had in mind the accounts of the evangelists Matthew and Mark about a woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with ointment (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9). In the first two Gospels, Mary was not named; here the evangelist fills in this gap. In addition, in John 12:1-8 he describes this event from Mary’s life in its historical connection.

John 11:3. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying: Lord, he whom You love is sick. John 11:4. When Jesus heard this, He said: This sickness is not for death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. The sisters do not ask Christ to come to them in Judea; they know, of course, that there Christ faces great danger from His enemies. In reliance on His miraculous power, they only respectfully inform Him of their brother’s serious illness. They are confident that the Lord can heal Lazarus from a distance, just as He had healed the slave of the centurion of Capernaum (Matt 8:8 and following). The Lord, speaking aloud before His disciples and the messenger from Bethany, remarks that this sickness was not sent to Lazarus so that he would die (cf. 1 John 5:16 and following), but so that through it—that is, through the victory over the consequence of this sickness, death—God would be glorified (“for the glory of God”) and precisely in the person of His Son (“that the Son of God may be glorified”, cf. John 5:21-23). But there is no reason to suppose that Christ’s words were understood in precisely this sense by the messenger of the sisters and by the sisters themselves when their messenger arrived to them: they certainly saw in these words only a hint of the possibility of Lazarus’s healing, and not of his resurrection.

John 11:5. Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. John 11:6. When He heard that Lazarus was sick, He remained two days longer in the place where He was. Why the Lord delayed for two full days in Perea, the evangelist does not say. In all probability, Christ acted in this case as was pleasing to His Father. Although friendship drew Him to the sick Lazarus, He subordinated His personal inclination to the will of the Father (cf. John 5:19).

John 11:7. After this He said to His disciples: Let us go to Judea again. John 11:8. The disciples said to Him: Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone You, and are You going there again? John 11:9. Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours in the day? If one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world; John 11:10. but if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. The Lord calls His apostles not simply to Bethany, where it would have seemed necessary to go, but to “Judea” in general. By this He wishes to tell the apostles that they must now exchange the relatively safe stay in Perea for life in the region where Christ’s enemies awaited Him. The disciples understood Christ in this very way. They point out to Him the dangers that threatened Him there in Judea, as if to give the impression that it would be better for Him to remain in Perea. But in response to the fears of the apostles, Christ says that their fears for Him are unfounded. “Are there not twelve hours in the day?” Just as God appointed a certain duration for the day (12 hours), so a definite time has been appointed for the activity of Christ. “The one who walks...” Just as for “this world,” that is, for ordinary mortals, light or the sun gives the ability to walk without stumbling or to act in one’s sphere, so, Christ wishes to say, there is a special higher sun for Him, belonging not to this but to the higher world, in the light of which He will walk, even though the earthly world is enveloped in darkness or strewn with all kinds of dangers. This sun is God (cf. Ps 83:12; Isa 60:20; Mic 7:8). And “the one who walks at night does not stumble because there is no light in him” (more accurately, “with him”). Here Christ speaks of a man who does not see God as his sun, who does not have God in himself (“light”). Indirectly with these words the Lord reproves His disciples for their lack of faith (cf. Matt 8:26).

John 11:11. After saying these things, He said to them: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him. The disciples understood the reproof addressed to them and fell silent. Then the Lord began to speak again about the proposed journey. It has now become known to Him, as the All-knowing One, that Lazarus has already died, and therefore He goes to raise him. But He expresses His decision regarding the proposed journey in a descriptive form. He calls Lazarus’s death “sleep,” and the resurrection which He intends to accomplish, an “awakening.” By this He wished to say that death for Lazarus is a transitory state (cf. Matt 9:24), which will end in an awakening or speedy resurrection, wherein Christ will be the raiser.

John 11:12. His disciples said: Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get better. John 11:13. Jesus was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about an ordinary sleep. John 11:14. Then Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead. John 11:15. And I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him. The disciples are reluctant to go to Judea, and they deliberately do not wish to understand the true meaning of Christ’s words. “What then?” they seem to say. “Lazarus has fallen asleep, and that is all for the best; we have nothing to worry about. Sleep gets rid of illness.” Then the Lord plainly declares to them about the death of Lazarus and adds that He is glad that Lazarus died in His absence, otherwise He would certainly have healed him, and the greater miracle—a resurrection—would not have come to pass. This miracle would now be especially beneficial for the disciples to see, since their faith, manifestly, had been considerably weakened at that time under the influence of the persecutions to which their Teacher was being subjected. The miracle of resurrection was meant to strengthen their faith in Christ as the true Messiah (“so that you may believe”).

John 11:16. Then Thomas, called the Twin, said to the disciples: Let us also go with him, so that we may die with him. Yet Thomas did not believe the comforting words of the Lord. The evangelist notes here that Thomas’s nickname was “Twin” or, more properly, a man of divided nature (Δίδυμος, from δύο—“two”), living in constant transitions from one mood to another (compare the expression δίψυχος at Jas 1:8—“a man of divided thoughts”; or διστάζων at Matt 14:31—“of little faith”). He follows Christ as His apostle, yet at the same time does not trust that Christ on this journey to Judea could safely deliver himself and his disciples from danger. “Let us also go with him” (“so that we also may die with him”—St. John Chrysostom). He means to say that there in Judea death awaits them all, that they will die as Lazarus died (“with him”). He is certainly influenced by the thought that Christ was unable to heal Lazarus’s illness, and he seems to have completely forgotten the deeds Christ had performed earlier (Matt 9:18-25; Luke 7:11-17), as well as His promises (John 5:21-29). Thomas showed this same lack of trust in Christ’s power later on as well, when he was told about the resurrection of Christ Himself (John 20:24).

John 11:17. Jesus, arriving, found that he had already been in the tomb four days. John 11:18. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. John 11:19. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to console them in their grief over their brother. When the Lord arrived in Bethany, there were already many Jews present, who had come, according to custom, to console the bereaved women in their sorrow. From Jerusalem to Bethany was not far—only about fifteen stadia, or about three kilometers. From the fact that many visitors came to Bethany, we can conclude that Lazarus’s family was not poor and enjoyed respect. Mourning for the dead and consolation of the bereaved by family and friends who came usually continued for seven days. Four of these seven days had already passed when Christ arrived in Bethany.

John 11:20. Martha, hearing that Jesus was coming, went out to meet him; but Mary sat in the house. John 11:21. Martha said to Jesus: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. John 11:22. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Some interpreters (for example, Heykie) believe that Christ did not go directly to Lazarus’s house because he did not want to suffer violence there from the Jews who had come from Jerusalem, since among Lazarus’s relatives there might have been people hostile to Christ. But Christ, as a knower of hearts, certainly knew that such intentions did not exist among Lazarus’s relatives; at least the evangelist says nothing of this. No, Christ’s temporary stop at the entrance to the village is simply explained by the fact that Martha was told that Christ was approaching and managed to meet him while he had not yet entered the village. “Then Martha said to Jesus...” In Martha’s words we see above all the certainty that the Lord, as the Master of life, would not in his presence have allowed the master of death to take away the life of her brother. Then, under the influence of Christ’s own words (verse 4) and knowing of the miracles Christ had performed in Galilee (Luke 7:11-15), she expresses the hope that even now God will help Christ fulfill his promise. But what exactly she expects from Christ (the resurrection of her brother) she does not say directly, as if afraid to make a demand that might be too great.

John 11:23. Jesus said to her: Your brother will rise again. John 11:24. Martha said to him: I know that he will rise again in the resurrection, on the last day. John 11:25. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live. John 11:26. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? John 11:27. She said to him: Yes, Lord! I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world. The Lord first gives Martha comfort of a general kind: “Your brother will rise again!” He does not say that he himself will raise him now. But then, when deep sorrow resounded in Martha’s words (“I know that he will rise...” verse 24), the Lord turns her thoughts from the distant future to the present. “I am the resurrection and the life...” In Christ lies the possibility and the guarantee of the resurrection of the dead, for in him is contained a life that conquers death (compare John 5:26). Yet again, Christ does not speak of his intention to raise Lazarus now. He only affirms that everyone “living,” that is, remaining here on earth, who “believes” in Christ will “never die” in eternity; they will not disappear forever when they die. No, “just as a stone thrown upward is from the very beginning of its flight subject to the force of gravity that pulls it back down, so also the Christian, sinking into the abyss of death, is subject to the pull of the life of Christ, which lifts him up again” (P. Lange). “Do you believe this?” If Martha becomes firm in this faith in the life-giving power of Christ, she will not fear her brother’s death so much. After all, he fell asleep as one who believed in Christ, which means he will live with eternal life. Yet these words brought Martha into even greater perplexity. She now finds herself in the same confusion the Samaritan woman was in when Christ spoke to her about worship in spirit and truth (John 4:25). She recognizes that Christ is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, but she is unable to draw any definite conclusion from this recognition (St. John Chrysostom).

John 11:28. Saying this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying: The Teacher is here and is calling for you. John 11:29. When she heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. John 11:30. Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was at the place where Martha had met him. John 11:31. The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her, seeing that Mary got up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. John 11:32. Mary came to where Jesus was and, seeing him, fell at his feet and said to him: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. As we can see from Martha’s greeting to her sister, the Lord intended to speak with Mary as well, just as he had spoken with Martha, and to speak with her alone, so that strangers would not hear. Therefore Martha “secretly” tells her sister about Christ’s coming. But still, Mary’s departure was at once noticed, and the Jews follow her, supposing she was going to weep at her brother’s tomb. Just as in Luke’s Gospel it says of Mary that she sat at Christ’s feet (Luke 10:39), so in John, Mary throws herself at Christ’s feet, which Martha did not do (compare verse 20). It is clear that Mary’s faith in Christ was far more living than Martha’s.

John 11:33. Jesus, seeing her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and greatly disturbed. John 11:34. And he said: Where have you laid him? They said to him: Lord, come and see. John 11:35. Jesus wept. Mary wept loudly (κλαίειν), and with her, according to custom, the relatives of Lazarus who came after her also wept loudly. Then the Lord himself “was deeply moved in spirit” (ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι). This expression is interpreted differently. Some (for example, Zahn) see here a designation of the agitation that took hold of Christ’s soul at the thought of the power of death, which was so clearly manifest in this case. In this view, the word “spirit” is understood as designating the Holy Spirit, who from the time of his baptism had urged Christ to activity (compare John 1:33). Trench similarly says: “Christ beheld all the terrible significance of death, that payment of sin. Before his eyes there opened all the miseries of mankind in miniature in one person. He saw before him all who mourn and all the graves. For if he was ready to wipe away the tears of the friends standing before him and turn their sorrow into joy for a brief moment, this did not actually change things: Lazarus would be revived, but soon would taste the bitterness of death again” (Trench, “The Miracles of Jesus Christ”). Others (for example, Meyer) see here an indication of the anger that was awakened in the Lord by the hypocritical tears and sobs of the Jews. But it accords better with the flow of the Gospel’s thought to see here not sorrow but anger, irritation on Christ’s part (such is the proper sense of the verb ἐμβριμάομαι; see Preuschen’s Dictionary), which was aroused in Christ by the universal lamentation, the inconsolable weeping over the dead in the presence of the very Giver of Life himself. And Mary and the other Jews seemed to have completely forgotten that the Giver of Life was standing before them! And the Lord was troubled by such a manifestation of little faith toward him (ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτόν). As for the word “spirit,” it was replaced in verse 38 with the expression ἐν ἑαυτῷ—“inwardly,” and consequently does not designate the Holy Spirit even in verse 33. “Where have you laid him?” With these words the Lord indicates that he intends to do something to awaken the weakened faith in himself as the Giver of Life. Yet Christ also pays tribute to the universal human feeling of sorrow over his dead friend—he weeps. Yes, in John he appears not only as God, but also as man.

John 11:36. Then the Jews said: See how he loved him. John 11:37. But some of them said: Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind have kept this man from dying? John 11:38. Jesus, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. The tears that appeared on Christ’s face convinced some that Christ loved Lazarus, but seemed to others like tears of helplessness. These latter even drew the conclusion on the basis of these tears that Christ did not have the power to work healing at all. They even began to suspect the genuineness of the last miracle wrought by the Lord in Jerusalem over the man born blind. Probably, these people said, that healing too was only deception. These conversations again troubled the Lord (in the Russian translation incorrectly—“again deeply moved”).

John 11:39. Jesus said: Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him: Lord, by now he stinks; for he has been dead four days. John 11:40. Jesus said to her: Did I not tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God? When the Lord came to the tomb and ordered the stone to be rolled away, Martha began to object, unwilling to see the horror of decay and to allow others to see the remains of her brother. Why did the Lord command the stone to be taken away? Could he not have made the stone roll away with his word? Of course he could, but he commands those around him to do this so that they might be gradually prepared for the miracle that was about to take place. By rolling away the stone, the people should come to the thought that Christ wants to raise Lazarus to life, and Christ, as we know, worked his miracles only when people were somewhat prepared to see them and believe. In particular, this was done for Martha, whose faith at this moment, it seems, was not at the proper height, as shown by the objection she made to Christ, by which she seemed to say that opening Lazarus’s tomb would be completely pointless. And the Lord directly addresses an instruction to Martha, reminding her of what he had said to her through her messenger (verse 4) and what he undoubtedly repeated to her at their recent meeting.

John 11:41. So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: Father, I thank you that you have heard me. John 11:42. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the crowd standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. John 11:43. Having said this, he called out with a loud voice: Lazarus, come out! John 11:44. The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them: Unbind him, and let him go. The Lord utters aloud before the people a thanksgiving to the Father for having heard him, certainly his earlier private prayer for the raising of Lazarus. The Lord expresses his thanksgiving aloud “for the crowd.” He wants all those present at the miracle of resurrection to know that this miracle is not an act of chance or of satanic power, with which they accused him of being in communion (Mark 3:22), but the result of his prayer to the Father. Through this all should come to the conviction that Christ is truly the Son of God, the promised Messiah (“that you sent me”). Then, raising his voice especially high (“called out”) as if to be heard even by the dead Lazarus (compare John 5:25), Christ commanded Lazarus to “come out” of the tomb. The dead man came out, but since it was difficult for him to step with his feet, which were tightly bound in burial cloths, the Lord ordered the stunned onlookers to unbind the one who had been raised. In the prayer that Christ here addresses to the Father, some critics see grounds for not recognizing Christ as a person of divine nature. “Is it possible,” Beyschlag remarks, “that God would pray to God? If there is anything that inwardly unites man with God while at the same time most distinguishes them from one another, it is prayer, petition, religion, which determine man’s relationship to God, and certainly not God’s relationship to God” (see in Znamensky, p. 326). But Christ’s prayer has an essential distinction from the prayers of ordinary people. First of all, can anyone else pray to God as to their own father? We pray to our Father, the Father of all people, not claiming an exclusive right to call God only our Father. Yet Christ addresses God precisely as his Father in an exclusive sense. And then, in his prayer, he converses with God as with one equal to him in nature and has full confidence that everything for which he prayed will certainly be fulfilled (regarding prayer in connection with his coming sufferings, see the commentaries on John 12:27-28). It should be noted that after the account of Christ’s resurrection, no Gospel narrative has provoked as much dispute among interpreters as John’s account of the raising of Lazarus. Many even now continue to argue that this account does not correspond to historical reality, that it was composed by the writer of the Fourth Gospel (of course, from the perspective of these interpreters, not by the Apostle John) on the basis of the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels of the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Matt 9:18 and following) and of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11 and following). The chief ground for doubting the historical reliability of John’s account of the raising of Lazarus is the fact that none of the Synoptists mention this event, and such an event they—so says the new criticism—could not have left unnoticed. But this ground is hardly so important. Why must the Synoptists necessarily have reported this miracle? Does it present anything unique in its importance? The cases of raising the dead which the Synoptists report are just as remarkable as the raising of Lazarus. And then, is it true that this miracle was the occasion for condemning Jesus Christ to death? If it were, then indeed it would be strange that the Synoptists do not mention this miracle where they begin to describe the history of Christ’s sufferings. But the point is that this miracle in itself did not have such a decisive significance in the history of Christ, since his enemies had long ago decided to seize and kill him. For this reason the Synoptists did not deem it necessary to mention this event. Finally, just as John (John 21:25), the Synoptists too could not transmit all the events from Christ’s life. None of them reported, for example, such an outstanding event as Christ’s appearance to five hundred Christians at once after his resurrection (1 Cor 15:6). If only John mentions the raising of Lazarus, this is explained by the fact that he wanted to show that Christ, going to his death, is nevertheless and remains the Master of life and death, and that he has not lost the power to raise, which he possessed before.

John 11:45. Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. John 11:46. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Some of those who witnessed the miracle believed in Christ, while others acted as informers, going to the Pharisees to report what had happened, since the Pharisees were known for their hostility to Christ. Zahn’s opinion that these were not informers but people who wanted to turn the Pharisees to faith in Christ cannot be accepted, because the word “some” is preceded by a contrasting particle (δέ).

John 11:47. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said: What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. John 11:48. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. When word came that what happened in Bethany, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered a council (a “sanhedrin”—see commentaries on Matt 5:22). From the discussions that took place at this meeting of the sanhedrin, it is clear that the chief priests or the leaders of the priestly courses held the leading role here. In fact, only the higher priestly aristocracy, which cared nothing for the national dignity of the Jewish people, was capable of reasoning as the members of the sanhedrin reasoned here. Christ’s case is discussed in the sanhedrin only from a political perspective, whereas if the Pharisees had set the tone for the discussion, they would have valued it from a religious standpoint. The priests are only afraid for themselves, worried about losing their power and the income that goes with it, if the Romans come to suppress the rebellion that the new-appearing Messiah might cause. They are willing to sacrifice even such a cherished dream of the Israeli people as the Messiah, king and restorer of David’s kingdom, to preserve a semblance of Jewish independence and their own position of authority.

John 11:49. One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them: You know nothing at all! John 11:50. You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed. A more bold decider of Christ’s fate was Caiaphas (see Matt 26:3; Luke 3:2). Hiding his inner personal motives, he speaks as though guided only by considerations of national welfare. For the good of the entire Jewish people, it is necessary to settle the matter with Christ as soon as possible—this is Caiaphas’s main thought.

John 11:51. He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, John 11:52. and not only for the nation, but to gather into one the scattered children of God. According to the evangelist’s remark, Caiaphas spoke these words not only from his own limited reasoning, but was, despite his will, a prophet in this case, predicting that Christ “would die for the nation,” that is, for the welfare of the nation, so that, so to speak, he might bring the nation true welfare—redemption from sins, which could only be obtained through Christ’s death. The evangelist views Caiaphas’s words as a prophecy because Caiaphas was high priest that year. The evangelist’s remark is interpreted differently. Some think that the evangelist considered the high priest to be an organ of divine revelation, and the expression “that year” is understood in the sense of a general designation of “at that time.” Others believe that the evangelist could not have failed to know that in the Second Temple there was no longer the “Urim” and “Thummim” by means of which the high priest discerned God’s will and was thus an organ of divine revelation. According to these interpreters, John viewed Caiaphas as the one who offered the sacrifice at the Feast of Atonement. At this feast it was his duty to offer a sacrifice for the sins of all the people, and God through a mysterious inspiration showed him the true sacrifice that would cleanse the sins of the people and all mankind (“the scattered children of God”). Such a sacrifice Christ was to be. Of these two interpretations, the first seems more natural. Even if Caiaphas did not have the “Urim” and “Thummim,” he was in John’s eyes a representative of the Church of God, whose life at that time had not yet ended, and consequently he could serve, even against his will, as an instrument of divine revelation, which is what happened in this case. Let his prophecy have remained misunderstood by the members of the sanhedrin to whom he spoke, yet it became known and was later cited, apparently in Christian communities as proof that Christ’s redemptive death was foretold even through the lips of a representative of the Jewish Church.

John 11:53. From that day on they planned to put him to death. John 11:54. Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with his disciples. The members of the sanhedrin unanimously determined to kill Christ, but did not yet work out measures for carrying this decision into effect. Meanwhile, the Lord withdrew from Judea, namely from Bethany, to a small town in northern Judea—“Ephraim,” located five Roman miles to the east of Bethel (some manuscripts read “Samphurein” instead of “Ephraim”—the same as “Sepphoris,” a town in Galilee, but the reading “Ephraim” has more attestation). Ephraim is mentioned in 2 Chr 13:19 and Josh 15:9 as a town in the tribe of Benjamin. This place was near the wilderness mentioned in the Book of Joshua (Josh 16:1). Christ chose it, apparently, because from here, if danger arose, it would be easy to flee into the wilderness. According to Archbishop Innocent, “the magnificent severity of the location, the appearance of the silent nature (Christ always loved to draw attention to it) were perfectly in accord with the matters that occupied the soul of Jesus. If his disciples understood and sensed the importance of the coming events, then for them the days spent in Ephraim were days of reflection, prayers, and secret great expectations. The evangelist does not say that Christ taught his disciples anything at this time. The Ephraim retreat, it seems, was devoted by him more to himself than to his disciples. However, his close association with the Teacher, recollection of all that had happened, especially of recent events, were in themselves very instructive.” To this we add that the apostles certainly knew of the sanhedrin’s decision to kill their Teacher, and this was certainly the main subject of their conversations.

John 11:55. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. John 11:56. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple: “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he? John 11:57. Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him. At this time the Passover was drawing near. Pilgrims were already arriving in Jerusalem to prepare themselves here through purifications, under the supervision of the Pharisees who knew all these purification rites well, to partake of the Passover. In fact, pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem, passing through pagan towns and villages, could become defiled completely unconsciously, and now they needed to ask the Pharisees whether they had done something that might prevent them from participating in the Passover. At the same time, pilgrims from other lands brought various goods from their own country, which they sold or traded before the festival. Jews who had previously seen Christ at the festivals converse among themselves about whether he will come to the Passover. Apparently they already knew the decision made about Christ by the sanhedrin, and they doubt whether Christ will come to Jerusalem after this. His enemies, for their part, expecting Christ to come to the festival to take advantage of the consequences that the miracle of Lazarus’s raising had in the people, give orders that whoever knows where Christ is should report it to the sanhedrin at once. * * * Notes Archbishop Innocent remarks that Martha answers Christ “with some sorrow and as though with coldness.” That is, approximately 7.5 km. — Editor’s note.