Глава 11

1–44. The Raising of Lazarus. – 45–57. The effect of this miracle on the people, the decision of the Sanhedrin to kill Christ and the removal of Christ to Ephraim. Chapters 11-12 contain an account of the facts in which Christ testified of Himself as the Conqueror of death and as the promised King of Israel. Until now, the Lord had primarily converted the Jews to the path of faith with words, but now, since words did not have a strong enough effect on His listeners, He testifies of Himself with extraordinary deeds, namely the resurrection of Lazarus and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. John 11:1. A certain Lazarus was sick from Bethany, from the village where Mary and Martha, her sister, lived. About the place of residence of the sick Lazarus, “Bethany,” see comments on Matthew 26:6 and Mark 11:1. The Evangelist calls Lazarus by name because the readers knew this name at least by rumor. An ancient Christian legend says that Lazarus subsequently lived on Fr. Cyprus and was the bishop of the Church of Cyprus. There is nothing incredible in this legend. The resurrected Lazarus could, in view of the danger threatening him from the Jews (John 12:10), withdraw from Bethany, close to Jerusalem, along with the Christians who fled to Fr. Cyprus after the murder of Deacon Stephen by the Jews (Acts 11:19). The evangelist defines Bethany as the village where “Martha and Mary” lived, and not as the village where “Lazarus” lived, probably meaning that the readers of his Gospel already knew from the Gospel of Luke that both of these sisters lived in the same village, but the very name of this village was not yet known (cf. Luke 10:38–42). John 11:2. Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was the one who anointed the Lord with myrrh and wiped His feet with her hair. Here it is more precisely determined who Mary, the sister of Lazarus, was. But since the evangelist speaks of her as one whose feat was already known to the readers, it is clear that here he had in mind the stories of the evangelists Matthew and Mark about the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with ointment (Matthew 26:6–13; Mark 14:3–9). In the first two Gospels, Mary was not mentioned by name, but here the evangelist fills in this omission. Moreover, in John 12:1–8 he describes this event in the life of Mary in its historical context. John 11:3. The sisters sent to tell Him: Lord! Behold, the one You love is sick. John 11:4. When Jesus heard this, he said: This illness 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 here Christ is in great danger from His enemies. Trusting in His miraculous power, they only respectfully inform Him of their brother’s serious illness. They are confident that the Lord can, even being far from Lazarus, heal him in the same way as He healed the servant of the Capernaum centurion (Matthew 8:8 et seq.). The Lord aloud in the presence of His disciples and the messenger from Bethany notes that this illness was sent to Lazarus not so that he would die (cf. 1 John 5:16 et seq.), but so that through it, i.e. through victory over the result of this illness, death, God was glorified (“to the glory of God”) and glorified precisely in the person of His Son (“that the Son of God may be glorified”, cf. John 5:21–23, 7:18). But there is no reason to believe that Christ’s words were understood in this exact sense by the sisters’ envoy and by the sisters themselves when their envoy arrived to them: they all, of course, saw in these words only a hint of the possibility of Lazarus’ healing, and not the resurrection. John 11:5. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. John 11:6. When he heard that he was sick, he stayed for two days in the place where he was. Why the Lord delayed for two whole days in Perea, the evangelist does not say. In all likelihood, Christ in this case acted as it pleased His Father. Although friendship attracted Him to the sick Lazarus, He subordinated His personal attraction to the will of the Father (cf. John 5:19, 30). John 11:7. After this he said to the disciples: Let us go again to Judea. John 11:8. The disciples said to Him: Rabbi! how long have the Jews been looking to stone you, and are you going there again? John 11:9. Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours in the day? whoever walks during the day does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world; John 11:10. but whoever walks at night stumbles, because there is no light with him. The Lord calls His apostles not just to Bethany, where, it would seem, they only needed to go, but “to Judea” in general. By this He wants to tell the apostles that they now need to change their relatively safe stay in Perea to life in the area where Christ’s enemies were waiting. This is how the disciples understood Christ. They point out to Him the dangers that threaten Him there, in Judea, as if making it clear that it would be better for Him to remain in Perea. But regarding the fears expressed by the apostles, Christ says that their fears for Him are unfounded. “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day?” Just as God determined a certain duration for the day (12 hours), so a certain period was assigned for the activity of Christ. "Who walks" ... As for "this world", i.e. for ordinary mortals, light or the sun makes it possible to walk without stumbling or act in their own sphere, so, Christ wants to say, and for Him there is a special higher Sun, belonging not to this, but to a higher world, in the light of which He will walk, even if the earthly world were shrouded in darkness or dotted with all sorts of dangers. This Sun is God (cf. Ps. 83:12; Is. 60:20; Micah 7:8). And “whoever walks at night stumbles, because there is no light with him” (more precisely, “in him”). Here Christ speaks of a person who does not see his Sun in God, who does not have God in himself (“light”). Indirectly with these words the Lord reproaches His disciples for their lack of faith (cf. Matt. 8:26). John 11:11. Having said this, he then said to them: Lazarus, our friend, fell asleep; but I'm going to wake him up. The disciples understood the reproach addressed to them and were silent. Then the Lord again begins to speak about the proposed journey. He, as the Omniscient, now knew that Lazarus had already died, and therefore He went to resurrect him. But the Lord presents this decision in descriptive form. He calls the death of Lazarus a “dormition,” and the resurrection that He intends to accomplish as an “awakening.” By this He wanted to say that death for Lazarus is a fleeting state (cf. Matt. 9:24), which will end in awakening or a quick resurrection, and Christ will appear as the resurrector. John 11:12. His disciples said: Lord! if he falls asleep, he will recover. John 11:13. Jesus spoke about his death, but they thought that He was talking about an ordinary dream. John 11:14. Then Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead; John 11:15. and I rejoice for you that I was not there, so that you might believe; but let's go to him. The disciples do not want to go to Judea, and they deliberately do not want to understand the true meaning of Christ's speech. “What? - they seem to say. “Lazarus fell asleep, and that’s for the best; we have nothing to worry about.” Illness comes out like a dream.” Then the Lord directly announces to them about the death of Lazarus and adds that He rejoices that Lazarus died in His absence, otherwise He, of course, would have healed him, and a greater miracle would not have happened - the resurrection. The latter will now be especially useful for students to see, whose faith, obviously at that time, under the influence of the persecution to which their Teacher was subjected, had weakened significantly. The miracle of the resurrection was supposed to strengthen their faith in Christ as the True Messiah ("so that you may believe"). John 11:16. Then Thomas, otherwise called the Twin, said to the disciples: come and we will die with him. But Thomas did not believe the reassuring words of the Lord. The evangelist notes that Thomas’s nickname was “twin” or, more correctly, a man of double nature (Δίδυμος, from δύο - “two”), living in constant transitions from one mood to another (cf. the expression δίψυχος in James 1:8 - “a man with double thoughts”, or διστάζων in Matthew 14:31 – “of little faith”). He follows Christ as His apostle and at the same time does not trust that Christ could safely deliver Himself and His disciples from danger on this journey to Judea. “Let us go, and we will die with him” (“so that we too may die with him” - St. John Chrysostom). He wants to say that there, in Judea, death awaits them all, that they will die, as Lazarus died (“with him”). He, of course, is influenced by the thought that Christ could not heal Lazarus’ illness, and he seemed to completely forget about the deeds of Christ done earlier (Matthew 9:18-25; Luke 7:11-17), as well as about His promises (John 5:21-29). Thomas showed the same distrust of the power of Christ later, when he was informed of the resurrection of Christ Himself (John 20:24). John 11:17. When Jesus arrived, he found that he had already been in the tomb for four days. John 11:18. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs away; John 11:19. and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to console them in their sorrow for their brother. When the Lord arrived in Bethany, there were already many Jews there who, according to custom, had come to console the orphaned women in their sorrow. It was not far from Jerusalem to Bethany - only about 15 stadia, i.e. about 3 kilometers. From the fact that many visitors came to Bethany, we can conclude that Lazarus’s family was not poor and was respected. The crying for the deceased and the consolation of the orphans by visiting friends and relatives usually continued for seven days. Of these seven days, four had already passed when Christ arrived in Bethany. John 11:20. Martha, hearing that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him; Maria was sitting at home. John 11:21. Then 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 from God, God will give you. Some interpreters (for example, Geiki) believe that Christ did not go directly to the house of Lazarus because he did not want to be subjected to violence there from the Jews who came from Jerusalem, since among Lazarus’s relatives there could be people hostile to Christ. But He, as a heart expert, of course, knew that Lazarus’s relatives did not have such plans, the evangelist, at least, does not report this... No, Christ’s temporary stop at the entrance to the village is simply explained by the fact that Martha was given to know that Christ was approaching, and she managed to meet Him even before He entered the village. “Then Martha said to Jesus...” Martha’s words, first of all, convey the confidence that the Lord, as the Lord of life, would not allow the Lord of death in His presence to take the life of her brother. Then, under the influence of the words of Christ Himself (verse 4) and knowing about the miracles that Christ performed in Galilee (Luke 7:11-15, 8:49-55), 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 directly say about this, as if afraid of making too great a demand. John 11:23. Jesus says to her: Your brother will rise again. John 11:24. Martha said to Him: I know that He will rise again on the resurrection, on the last day. John 11:25. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life; He who 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 says to Him: Yes, Lord! I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, coming into the world. The Lord first gives Martha consolation of a general nature: “your brother will rise again!” . He does not say that He Himself will resurrect him now. But then, when deep sorrow sounded in the words of Martha (“I know that he will rise again”... 34), the Lord takes her thoughts away from the distant future to the present. “I am the resurrection and the life...” In Christ is the possibility and guarantee of the resurrection of the dead, since in Him is life that triumphs over death (cf. John 5:26, 6:57). But again, the Lord has not yet spoken about His intention to resurrect Lazarus. He only asserts that everyone “living”, i.e. he who was here on earth “believing” in Christ “will not die forever” or forever, will not disappear, having died, forever. No, “just as a stone thrown upward is subject to the force of gravity from the very beginning of its flight, drawing it back, so a Christian, plunging into the abyss of death, submits to the attraction of the life of Christ, which lifts him up again” (P. Lange). “Do you believe this?” If Martha is confirmed in this faith in the quickening power of Christ, then she will no longer be so afraid of the death of her brother. After all, he died as a believer in Christ, which means he will live eternal life. But these words led Martha into even greater sorrow. She is now in the same bewilderment that the Samaritan woman was in when Christ spoke to her about worship in spirit and truth (John 4:25). She admits that Christ is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, but she is not able to draw any definite conclusion from this recognition (St. John Chrysostom). John 11:28. Having said this, she went and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying: The Teacher is here and is calling you. John 11:29. She, as soon as she heard it, quickly got up and went to Him. John 11:30. Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was at the place where Martha met Him. John 11:31. The Jews who were with her in the house and consoled her, seeing that Mary hastily got up and left, followed her, believing that she had gone to the tomb to cry there. John 11:32. Mary, coming 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 can be seen from Martha’s address to her sister, the Lord intended first to talk with Mary, as He talked with Martha, and to talk privately, so that strangers would not hear Him. Therefore, Martha “secretly” informs her sister about the coming of Christ. But nevertheless, Mary’s removal was immediately noticed, and the Jews set off after her, believing that she went to cry at the grave of her brother. Just as the Gospel of Luke says of Mary that she sat at the feet of Christ (Luke 10:39), so in John Mary throws herself at the feet of Christ, which her sister did not do (cf. verse 20). It is clear that Mary's faith in Christ was much more vibrant than Martha's. John 11:33. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, He Himself was grieved in spirit and indignant John 11:34. and said: Where have you laid it? They say to Him: Lord! come and see. John 11:35. Jesus shed tears. Mary wept loudly (κλαίειν), and with her, according to custom, Lazarus’s relatives, who followed her, wept loudly. Then the Lord Himself “was grieved in spirit” (ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι). This expression has different interpretations. Some (for example, Tsang) see here a designation of the excitement that took possession of the soul of Christ at the thought of the power of death, which (power) was revealed so clearly in the present case. Moreover, the word “by the Spirit” is understood as a designation of the Holy Spirit, Who, from the time of baptism, prompted Christ to activity (cf. John 1:33). In the same way, Trench says: “Christ contemplated the full terrible meaning of death, this sinful rent. All the misfortunes of mankind were revealed before His eyes in the small form of one man. He saw before Him all the mourners and all the graves. For if He was ready to wipe away the tears of his upcoming friends and for a short time turn their sadness into joy, this did not, in essence, change the state of things: Lazarus would be revived, but would soon taste the bitterness of death for the second time” (Trench. “The Miracles of Jesus Christ”). Others (for example, Meyer) see here an indication of the anger that the hypocritical tears and sobs of the Jews aroused in the Lord. But it is more consistent with the flow of thoughts of the Gospel to see here not grief, but anger, irritation of Christ (this is the meaning, in fact, of the verb ἐμβριμάομαι, see Preyshen's Dictionary), which was aroused in Christ by general lamentations, inconsolable crying for the deceased in the presence of the very Head of life. Both Mary and the other Jews seemed to have completely forgotten that the Giver of Life was standing before them! And the Lord was indignant at such a manifestation of lack of faith in relation to Himself (ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτόν). As for the word “by the spirit,” it is replaced in the 38th verse by the expression ἐν ἑαυτῷ - “inwardly” and, therefore, does not mean the Holy Spirit in the 33rd verse. "Where did you put it?" With these words, the Lord makes it clear that He intends to do something in order to awaken the weakened faith in others in Himself as the Giver of Life. At the same time, however, Christ pays tribute to the universal human feeling of grief for His dead friend - He cries. Yes, and in John He is not only God, but also man... John 11:36. Then the Jews said: Look how He loved him. John 11:37. And some of them said: Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have ensured that this one would not die? John 11:38. Jesus, again grieving internally, comes to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay on it. The tears that appeared on the face of Christ convinced some that Christ loved Lazarus, but to others they seemed like tears of powerlessness. The latter, even on the basis of these tears, came to the conclusion that Christ did not have the power to perform healings at all. They even suspected that the last miracle of healing performed by the Lord in Jerusalem on a man born blind was not true. Probably, these people said, that healing was only a deception. These conversations again irritated the Lord (in the Russian translation inaccurately - “again grieving internally”). John 11:39. Jesus says: take away the stone. The sister of the deceased, Martha, said to Him: Lord! already stinks; for he has been in the tomb for four days. John 11:40. Jesus says to her: Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? When, having come to the grave, the Lord commanded the stone to be rolled away from it, Martha began to object to this, not wanting to see the horror of decay and to give other witnesses the opportunity to see the remains of her brother. Why does the Lord command the stone to be taken away? Couldn't He have caused the stone to roll away from the tomb with His word? Of course, he could, but He commands those around Him to do this in order to gradually prepare them for the miracle that was now about to take place. By rolling away the stone, people must have come to the conclusion that Christ wanted to revive Lazarus, and Christ, as you know, performed His miracles only when people were already somewhat ready to see them and believe. In particular, this was done for Martha, whose faith, apparently, at the moment did not stand at the proper height, as shown by the objection she made to Christ, with which she seemed to say that opening the tomb of Lazarus was completely in vain... And the Lord directly admonishes Martha, reminding her of what He told her through her messenger (verse 4) and what, no doubt, repeated to her at a recent meeting. John 11:41. So they took the stone away from the cave where the dead man lay. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: Father! I thank You that You heard Me. John 11:42. I knew that You would always hear Me; but I said this for the sake of the people standing here, so that they might believe that You sent Me. John 11:43. Having said this, He cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus! get out. John 11:44. And the dead man came out, entwined on his hands and feet with burial cloths, and his face was tied with a scarf. Jesus says to them: Untie him, let him go. The Lord pronounces aloud to the people thanks to the Father for the fact that He heard, of course, the prayer He had previously uttered secretly for the resurrection of Lazarus. The Lord expresses His thanks aloud “for the people.” He wants everyone present at the miracle of the resurrection to know that this miracle is not the action of chance or the satanic force with which He was accused (Mark 3:22), but the result of His prayer to the Father. Through this, everyone should come to the conviction that Christ is truly the Son of God, the promised Messiah (“that you sent me”). Then, especially raising his voice (“called out”), as if to be heard and died by Lazarus (cf. John 5:25, 29), Christ commanded Lazarus to “go out” from the tomb. The dead man came out, but since it was difficult for him to step over his feet, which were tightly wrapped in shrouds, the Lord ordered the spectators, dumbfounded with amazement, to untie the resurrected man. In the prayer with which Christ here addresses the Father, some critics see grounds for not recognizing Christ as the Person of the Divine Nature. “Is it possible,” Beishlag observes, “that God prays to God? If there is something that, although it unites a person internally with God, yet together and most distinguishes them from each other, this is prayer, petition, religion, which determine the relationship of a person to God, and not of God to God” (see Znamensky, p. 326). But the prayer of Christ has a significant difference from the prayers of ordinary people. Can, first of all, any person turn in prayer to God as his father? We pray to our Father, the Father of all people, without ascribing to ourselves the exclusive right to call God our Father only. Meanwhile, Christ addresses God precisely as His Father in the exclusive sense of the word. And then, in prayer, He talks with God as with His equal in nature and has full confidence that everything He prayed for will certainly be fulfilled (for prayer regarding future suffering, see comments on John 12:27–28). It should be noted that after the story of the resurrection of Christ, not a single gospel story aroused so much controversy among interpreters as John’s story about the resurrection of Lazarus. Many continue to argue that this story does not correspond to historical reality, that it was compiled by the writer of the 4th Gospel (of course, from the point of view of these interpreters, not the Apostle John) on the basis of the stories contained in the Synoptic Gospels about the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9:18 et seq.) and the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11 et seq.). The main reason for doubting the historical reliability of John’s story about the resurrection of Lazarus is the fact that none of the weather forecasters mentions this event, and they, says new criticism, could not ignore such an event... But this reason is hardly that important. Why did weather forecasters necessarily have to report this miracle? Did it represent anything exceptional in its importance? Those cases of the resurrection of the dead reported by weather forecasters are as amazing as the resurrection of Lazarus. And then, is it true what they say that this miracle was the reason for dooming Jesus Christ to death? If this was so, then it is indeed strange that the weather forecasters do not mention this miracle where they begin to depict the story of Christ's suffering. But the fact of the matter is that this miracle in itself did not have such a decisive significance in the history of Christ, since the enemies had long ago decided to capture and kill Him. That is why weather forecasters did not consider it necessary to mention this event. Finally, like John (John 21:25), so, of course, the weather forecasters could not convey all the events from the life of Christ. None of them reported, for example, about such an outstanding event as the appearance of Christ after His resurrection to five hundred Christians at once (1 Cor. 15:6). If only John mentions the resurrection of Lazarus, this is explained by the fact that he wanted to show that Christ, going to death, is and remains nevertheless the Lord of life and death and that He has not lost His power to resurrect, which He had before. John 11:45. Then many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus had done believed in Him. John 11:46. And some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Some of the witnesses to the miracle believed in Christ, others appeared as informers about what had happened to the Pharisees, who were known for their enmity towards Christ. Tsan's opinion that these were not informers, but people who wanted to convert the Pharisees to faith in Christ, cannot be accepted, because the word “some” has an opposite particle (δέ). John 11:47. Then the chief priests and Pharisees held a council and said, “What should we do?” This Man does many miracles. John 11:48. If we leave Him like this, then everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take possession of both our place and our people. When it became known what had happened in Bethany, the high priests and Pharisees assembled a council (“Sanhedrin” - see comments on Matthew 5:22). From the conversations that took place at this meeting of the Sanhedrin, it is clear that the leading role here was played by the high priests or the heads of the priestly lines. In fact, only the highest priestly aristocracy, which did not at all value the national dignity of the Jewish people, was capable of reasoning the way the members of the Sanhedrin reasoned here. The cause of Christ is discussed in the Sanhedrin only from the political side, but if the Pharisees had set the tone for the discussion, they would begin to evaluate this matter from the religious side. The priests are only afraid for themselves, afraid of losing power and the income associated with it if the Romans go to pacify the rebellion that the newly-minted Messiah might cause. They agree to sacrifice, in order to preserve some semblance of Jewish independence and their position of authority, even such a cherished dream of the Israeli people as the Messiah, the king and restorer of the kingdom of David. John 11:49. One of them, a certain Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them: you know nothing, John 11:50. and you will not think that it is better for us that one man should die for the people, than that the whole people should perish. Caiaphas appeared as a more courageous decider of the fate of Christ (see Matt. 26:3; Luke 3:2). Hiding the internal personal motives of his decision, he speaks as if guided only by the interests of the national state. For the benefit of the entire Jewish nation, it is necessary to put an end to Christ as soon as possible - this is the main idea of ​​Caiaphas. John 11:51. But he did not say this on his own, but, being high priest that year, he predicted that Jesus would die for the people, John 11:52. and not only for the people, but in order to gather together the scattered children of God. According to the evangelist, Caiaphas uttered these words not only for his own limited personal considerations, but, contrary to his wishes, appeared in this case as a prophet, predicting that Christ would “die for the people,” i.e. for the good of the people, in order, so to speak, to deliver true good to the people - redemption from sins, which could only be acquired by the death of Christ. The evangelist considers the words of Caiaphas as a prophecy because Caiaphas was the high priest that year. This remark of the evangelist is interpreted differently. Some think that the evangelist considered the high priest to be the organ of divine revelation and the expression “for that year” is understood in the sense of the general definition “at this time.” Others believe that the evangelist could not help but know that in the second church there was no longer the “Urim” and “Thummim”, through which the high priest recognized the will of God and was thus the organ of divine revelation. According to these interpreters, John viewed Caiaphas as the sacrificer on the feast of atonement. On this holiday, he had to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the entire people, and God, through a mysterious inspiration, showed him the true sacrifice, which should cleanse the sins of the people and the entire human race (“the scattered children of God”). Christ was supposed to be such a sacrifice. Of these two interpretations, the first seems more natural. Even if Caiaphas did not have “Urim” and “Thummim,” then in the eyes of John he was still a representative of the Church of God, whose life at that time had not yet ended, and, therefore, he could serve, even against his will, as an instrument of divine revelation, which he appeared this time. Although his prophecy remained incomprehensible to the members of the Sanhedrin, to whom he addressed a speech, it nevertheless became known and was subsequently cited, obviously, in Christian communities as proof that the atoning death of Christ was foretold by the mouth of a representative of the Jewish Church. John 11:53. From that day on they decided to kill Him. John 11:54. Therefore, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to a country near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and remained there with His disciples. The members of the Sanhedrin unanimously decided to put Christ to death, but they had not yet worked out measures to carry out this decision. Meanwhile, the Lord departed from Judea, namely from Bethany, to the small town of northern Judea - "Ephraim", located five Roman miles 35 east of Bethel (some codes read the word "Samfurin" instead of "Ephraim" - the same as "Sepphoris", a town in Galilee, but the reading "Ephraim" has more evidence for itself). Ephraim is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 13:19, and Josh. 15:9 as a city in the tribe of Benjamin. This place was located close to the desert, which is mentioned in the book of Joshua (Joshua 16:1). Christ chose it, probably due to the fact that from here in case of danger it was easy to go into the desert. As Archbishop Innocent noted, “the majestic severity of the location, the appearance of silent nature (Christ always loved to pay attention to it) were completely consistent with the objects with which the soul of Jesus was occupied. If His disciples foresaw and foresaw the importance of the upcoming events, then for them the days spent in Ephraim were days of reflection, prayer and secret great expectations. The Evangelist does not say that Christ is now teaching His disciples anything. The Ephraim solitude seems to have been more dedicated to Himself than to the disciples. However, the closest interaction with the Teacher, the recollection of everything that happened, especially the latest events, were in themselves very instructive.” To this we will add that the apostles, of course, already knew the decision of the Sanhedrin to kill their Teacher, and this, of course, served as the main subject of conversation for them. John 11:55. The Passover of the Jews was approaching, and many from the whole country came to Jerusalem before the Passover to cleanse themselves. John 11:56. Then they looked for Jesus and, standing in the church, said to each other: What do you think? won't He come to the festival? John 11:57. The high priests and Pharisees gave orders that if anyone knew where He would be, they would announce it in order to take Him. At this time Easter was approaching. The pilgrims had already arrived in Jerusalem to prepare here, through purifications, under the supervision of the Pharisees, who knew all the rituals of these purifications well, to eat Easter. In fact, the pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem, passing through pagan villages and cities, could have become defiled in some way completely unconsciously, and now they had to ask the Pharisees if they had done anything that could prevent them from taking part in the celebration of Passover. At the same time, pilgrims from other countries brought with them various products from their country, which they sold or exchanged for something before the holiday. The Jews, who had previously seen Christ at the holidays, are talking among themselves about whether He will come for Easter. They obviously already know the decision made about Christ by the Sanhedrin, and they doubt whether Christ will come to Jerusalem after this. The enemies of Christ, for their part, expecting that Christ will appear at the holiday in order to take advantage of the consequences that the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus had among the people, give an order that anyone who knows about the whereabouts of Christ should immediately report this to the Sanhedrin. Archbishop Innocent notes that Martha responds to Christ “with some regret and, as it were, dryness.” Those. approximately 7.5 km. – Approx. ed. You might be interested in: