1:43 On the next day Jesus 1 wanted to set out for Galilee. 2 He 3 found Philip and said 4 to him, “Follow me.”
2:1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana 5 in Galilee. 6 Jesus’ mother 7 was there,
2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum 8 with his mother and brothers 9 and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days.
11:6 So when he heard that Lazarus 16 was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days.
11:17 When 17 Jesus arrived, 18 he found that Lazarus 19 had been in the tomb four days already. 20
12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he 23 had raised from the dead.
12:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 24
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Jesus is best taken as the subject of εὑρίσκει (Jeuriskei), since Peter would scarcely have wanted to go to Galilee.
2 sn No explanation is given for why Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee, but probably he wanted to go to the wedding at Cana (about a two day trip).
3 tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
4 tn Grk “and Jesus said.”
5 map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.
6 sn Cana in Galilee was not a very well-known place. It is mentioned only here, in 4:46, and 21:2, and nowhere else in the NT. Josephus (Life 16 [86]) says he once had his quarters there. The probable location is present day Khirbet Cana, 8 mi (14 km) north of Nazareth, or Khirbet Kenna, 4 mi (7 km) northeast of Nazareth.
7 tn Grk “in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother.”
9 sn Verse 12 is merely a transitional note in the narrative (although Capernaum does not lie on the direct route to Jerusalem from Cana). Nothing is mentioned in John’s Gospel at this point about anything Jesus said or did there (although later his teaching is mentioned, see 6:59). From the synoptics it is clear that Capernaum was a center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and might even be called “his own town” (Matt 9:1). The royal official whose son Jesus healed (John 4:46-54) was from Capernaum. He may have heard Jesus speak there, or picked up the story about the miracle at Cana from one of Jesus’ disciples.
10 sn With respect to Jesus’ brothers, the so-called Helvidian view is to be preferred (named after Helvidius, a 4th-century theologian). This view holds that the most natural way to understand the phrase is as a reference to children of Joseph and Mary after the birth of Jesus. Other views are that of Epiphanius (they were children of Joseph by a former marriage) or Jerome (they were cousins). The tradition of Mary’s perpetual virginity appeared in the 2nd century and is difficult to explain (as J. H. Bernard, St. John [ICC], 1:85, points out) if some of her other children were prominent members of the early church (e.g., James of Jerusalem). But this is outweighed by the natural sense of the words.
13 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
14 tn The imperative here is really more than a simple conditional imperative (= “if you destroy”); its semantic force here is more like the ironical imperative found in the prophets (Amos 4:4, Isa 8:9) = “Go ahead and do this and see what happens.”
17 tn Following the arrival of the Samaritans, the imperfect verb has been translated as ingressive.
18 tn Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.
21 tn Or “who chews”; Grk ὁ τρώγων (Jo trwgwn). The alternation between ἐσθίω (esqiw, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trwgw, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) may simply reflect a preference for one form over the other on the author’s part, rather than an attempt to express a slightly more graphic meaning. If there is a difference, however, the word used here (τρώγω) is the more graphic and vivid of the two (“gnaw” or “chew”).
22 sn Notice that here the result (has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day) is produced by eating (Jesus’) flesh and drinking his blood. Compare John 6:40 where the same result is produced by “looking on the Son and believing in him.” This suggests that the phrase here (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood by the phrase in 6:40 (looks on the Son and believes in him).
25 tn Grk “that he”; the referent (Lazarus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Grk “Then when.”
30 tn Grk “came.”
31 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Lazarus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
32 tn Grk “he had already had four days in the tomb” (an idiom).
33 tn Grk “Martha said to him.”
34 tn Or “will rise again.”
37 tn Grk “whom Jesus,” but a repetition of the proper name (Jesus) here would be redundant in the English clause structure, so the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.
41 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
45 sn The day of preparation was the day before the Sabbath when everything had to be prepared for it, as no work could be done on the Sabbath.
46 sn The tomb was nearby. The Passover and the Sabbath would begin at 6 p.m., so those who had come to prepare and bury the body could not afford to waste time.