This pericope summarizes the situation at this stage of Jesus' ministry. The leaders had determined to kill Him, and Jesus withdrew to the town of Ephraim.
11:54 Jesus may have learned of the Sanhedrin's decision from a sympathetic member such as Nicodemus, or as God He may have known it independently. He withdrew to a private place and no longer ministered publicly. The town of Ephraim was probably Old Testament Ephron about four miles northeast of Bethel and twelve miles from Jerusalem (2 Chron. 13:19).
11:55 This is the third Passover that John mentioned in his Gospel (cf. 2:13; 6:4) and probably the fourth one during Jesus' public ministry. John mentioned the first, third, and fourth of these.401The Mosaic Law required that the Jews who had become ritually unclean had to purify themselves for one week before participating in this feast (Num. 9:6-14). Therefore many of them went to Jerusalem at least one week before the feast began to undergo purification.
11:56 These pilgrims wondered if Jesus would attend that Passover since official antagonism against Him was common knowledge (v. 57; cf. 7:11). He habitually attended the required feasts and taught in the temple while He was in Jerusalem. However, there had been unsuccessful attempts to stone Him there, so whether He would appear at this feast was an open question.
11:57 There was a warrant out for Jesus' arrest. The reader can hardly miss the point that Israel's leaders had deliberately rejected their Messiah.
