So
from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
John 11:53-57
John 11 [45.] Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done. The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
John 11 [49.] But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.
John 11 [55.] Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
John 12 [1.] Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Mary, therefore, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?” Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”
Meaning:
The high priest Caiaphas had told the council that it was better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish (John 11:49-52). These verses describe the result: the leaders planned Jesus’ death, Jesus withdrew, and Jerusalem filled with Passover pilgrims wondering whether he would come.
- “From that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death”
Now the plan to kill Jesus became settled policy. The sign that showed Jesus to be the resurrection and the life sealed his death. Mark records the same intent just before the Passover: “the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him” (Mark 14:1).
- “Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews”
Jesus withdrew, not out of fear but because his hour had not yet come. Earlier John had written, “no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come” (John 7:30). He would die at the Passover, at the time the Father had appointed.
- “A city called Ephraim”
Ephraim was a small town near the edge of the Judean wilderness, probably north-east of Jerusalem. There Jesus spent his last days of retreat with his disciples.
- “The Passover of the Jews was at hand”
John mentions several Passovers during Jesus’ ministry (see John 6:4), and this would be the last. Pilgrims came early “to purify themselves”. The law required ceremonial cleanness to keep the Passover, and anyone defiled, for example by touching a dead body, needed a week of purification: “He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days” (Numbers 19:11).
Crowds were purifying themselves for the feast while the leaders plotted murder. Later the same leaders would refuse to enter Pilate’s headquarters “that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover” (John 18:28), even as they handed over an innocent man to be crucified.
- “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?”
At the Feast of Tabernacles, too, “the Jews therefore sought him at the feast” (John 7:11). Everyone wondered whether he would dare to appear.
- “If anyone knew where he was, he should report it”
Jesus was now officially a wanted man. The order prepared the way for Judas, who soon went to the chief priests “that he might deliver him to them” (Mark 14:10).
The Significance of John 11:53-57
- God’s timing governs events
The leaders made their plans, but Jesus’ life was in his Father’s hands. Believers can trust God’s timing rather than fear the schemes of others.
- Outward ritual and inward reality
The pilgrims’ care for ceremonial purity contrasts with the leaders’ murderous plans. God looks for clean hearts, not only clean hands.
- The true Passover Lamb
The Passover recalled Israel’s rescue from Egypt through the blood of the lamb. Jesus, the Lamb of God, was about to die at that very feast. Paul wrote, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Cross-References:
Mark 14:1: "the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him." Mark’s account of the plot.
John 7:30: "no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come." Jesus’ life was governed by the Father’s timing.
John 18:28: "they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover." Concern for ritual purity amid injustice.
1 Corinthians 5:7: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place." Jesus is the true Passover Lamb.
Conclusion: After Caiaphas’ advice, the council resolved to put Jesus to death, and Jesus withdrew with his disciples to Ephraim near the wilderness. As the Passover approached, pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem to purify themselves and wondered whether he would come, while the leaders ordered that anyone who knew where he was should report it. The stage was set for the death of the true Passover Lamb.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible