"Come and See": A Web Commentary on the Gospel of John: Section 10 New Life Foreshadowed (Jn 11.1-57)

10.2. Aftermath: The Conspiracy Against Jesus (Jn 11.47-57)

⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled the Council and they said, “What are we to do now that this fellow is performing many signs? ⁴⁸If we let him go on in this way, everyone will put their trust in him, and the Romans will come and they will take away both our holy place¹ and our nation. ⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You understand nothing! ⁵⁰Nor do you understand that it is to your advantage for one man to die on the people’s behalf and for the whole nation not to to be destroyed.” ⁵¹But he did not say this on his own but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵²and not only for the nation but so that he might assemble the dispersed children of God into one. ⁵³And so from that day on they decided to kill him.

⁵⁴So Jesus was no longer able to walk openly among the people of Judaea, but he went away from there into the countryside, near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and he remained there with the disciples.

⁵⁵The Jewish Passover was near and many people went up to Jerusalem from the countryside before Passover, to purify themselves. ⁵⁶Then they looked for Jesus and they said to one another, standing in the Temple, “What do you think? Might he not come to the festival?” ⁵⁷But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was they should make it known, so that they could arrest him.

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