JOHN 11:55-57 THINK ABOUT IT

55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the Feast at all?” 57 But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.

John alerts the reader that something important is about to happen. This is the third Passover mentioned in this gospel and the previous two are marked by the cleansing of the Temple and the feeding of the 5000, respectively. There were many people in Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover and the Jewish authorities had published that Jesus was at the top of their “Most Wanted” list. By placing it in the context of talk-on-the-street, it is as if St. John was directing the question, “What do you think?” to us.

The story is a very familiar one for us. We live on the other side of the events that are to follow. But just because we know what happened historically, do we ever take the time to really ponder what went on? The question that we need to answer is not, “What do we know?” but “What do we think?” When we engage that question the Scriptures become more than static words on a page; they become alive in our lives.

St. John helps us “think” about these events by giving us a context. The events that are about to unfold are all done in preparation for the Lord’s Passover. From the chief priests waiting for the sacrificial victim in the Temple to the arrest and trial of Jesus, All occur as part of the preparation for the Passover.

Through such thinking, St. Paul concluded, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

Lord Jesus, transform me by the renewing of my mind so that I might conform to your will and not the pattern of the world. Direct my thinking so that I can understand the deep truth of your Word and not settle for a passing knowledge of you and a life of lip-service to your Lordship. Amen.