Bible Commentaries

1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

Ver. 1. Bethany, the town of Mary, &c.] Not the tower ( castellum) of Mary and Martha, as some monks have doted; digni sane qui ad grammatices elementa remittantur, truly worth are those who relax the laws of grammar, from the saith an interpreter. Bethany was a small town or village nigh to Jerusalem, where dwelt these three, Lazarus and his two sisters, all in one house (though fratrum concordia rata establishing brotherly peace), to whom our Saviour joins himself a fourth in their friendship. "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Surely there the Lord "commands the blessing, even life for evermore," Psalms 133:1; Psalms 133:3.

2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

Ver. 2. It was that Mary which anointed] This makes her name "as an ointment poured forth," Song of Solomon 1:3. And she spared for no cost, being of her mind, it seems, that said, Ego si bonam famam servasso, sat ero dives, I if I shall be of a good reputation, let it be a costly basket. (Plaut.)

3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

Ver. 3. Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick] This was enough to say to a loving Saviour. We need not be careful in anything, more than to make our wants known to God, Philippians 4:6, and let him alone to help us, how and when he pleaseth. So, to mind and move Christ for the labouring Church, it shall suffice to say, She whom thou lovest is sick, is in ill case, &c. But St Augustine asketh, Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur? If it is love, how is it weak? Oh, well enough: afflictions are Christ’s love tokens. "As many as I love," saith he, "I rebuke and chasten." God may give the dearly beloved of his soul into the hand of her enemies, Jeremiah 12:7.

4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Ver. 4. But for the glory of God] Happy Lazarus, though sick and dead, to be an instrument of glory, to be given to God. St Paul stood on tip toes ( αποκαραδοκια), as it were, to see which way Christ might be most magnified in his body, whether by life or by death, Philippians 1:20.

5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

Ver. 5. Jesus loved Martha] The saints are all round about his throne, Revelation 4:4, because he is alike near to them for solace and tuition. Howbeit, as man; living among men, he was affected to some more than some, as to these three, and the beloved disciple. These were his Jedediahs, his singularly affected, and this was a high prerogative. Plato commendeth his country of Athens for antiquity of the people, &c., but chiefly for this, that they were beloved of the gods, το πρωτον και μεγιστον εστι οιτ τογχανει ουν θεοφιλης. (Plato.)

6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

Ver. 6. He abode two days] Waiting to be gracious, but as a God of judgment, he knows best when to deal forth his favours, Isaiah 30:18. To prescribe to him is to set the sun by our dial. This Caesar terms sauciness in his soldiers.

7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

Ver. 7. Then after that saith he, &c.] When help is seasonable his fingers itch, as the mother’s breast aches when it is time the child had suck.

8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?

Ver. 8. And goest thou thither again?] Yea, with the hazard of his life, to the help of his friend. The ancients painted friendship, a fair young man bareheaded, in a poor garment, at the bottom whereof was written, Death and Life, in the upper part, Summer and Winter; his bosom was open, so that his heart might be seen, whereupon was written, Longe, prope, a friend at hand and afar off. (Wilkins’ Com. in Muter. orat. 1. de laud. lit.)

9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

Ver. 9. Are there not twelve hours?] q.d. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Job 7:1. Shall I not live out my stint? The Turks shun not the company of those that have the plague; but, pointing upon their foreheads, say, It was written there at their birth when they should die. (Blount’s Voyage into Levant.) A priest, indeed, might enter without danger into a leprous house, because he had a calling from God so to do. A man may follow God dryshod through the Red Sea. This our Saviour calls here "to walk in the day," by an excellent and elegant similitude. But he that keeps not within God’s precincts may not look for his protection. I commend the charity, but I question the discretion, of Mr Stafford, public professor of divinity in Cambridge, who, hearing that a certain priest, called Sir Henry Conjuror (in King Henry VIII’s days), lay sore sick of the plague, was so moved with pity to the poor priest’s soul, that he came to him, exhorted, and so laboured him, that he would not leave him before he had converted him, and saw his conjuring books burnt before his face. Which being done, Mr Stafford went home, and immediately sickened, and shortly after most Christianly deceased. He might have, I confess, an extraordinary call to his work. But Zanchius somewhere maketh mention of a colleague of his in the ministry, that by the like means took his death, and much bewailed upon his death bed that he had not yielded to Zanchius advising him to the contrary.

10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

Ver. 10. But if any man walk in the night] As good Josiah did, in that rash expedition against PharaohNecho; either hoping to ingratiate with the Assyrian, or fearing to have an overly strong neighbour of the Egyptian: he went up to battle, not so much as asking leave of the Lord, though he had Jeremiah at hand, and Zephaniah, and a whole college of seers besides. The best are sometimes miscarried by their passions to their cost.

11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

Ver. 11. Lazarus sleepeth] The saints are said to die in Christ, to sleep in Jesus, Revelation 14:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:14. The Greeks call their churchyards dormitories, sleeping places ( κοιμητηρια). The Germans call them God’s Acre, because their bodies are sown there to be raised again. The Hebrews Bethchajim, the house of the living.

12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

Ver. 12. If he sleep, he shall do well] Sleep (saith one) is the nurse of nature, the sweet parenthesis of all thy griefs and cares.

13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

Ver. 13. Jesus spake of his death] Which profane writers also do call a sleep, but only because the functions of the faculties are extinct by death; therefore they call it an iron sleep, an eternal sleep, &c. Christians call death a sleep, because it is to them a sweet rest in their beds, warmed and perfumed for them by Christ’s body laid in the grave; with whom also they look to rise to life eternal. Ut somnus morris, sic lectus imago sepulchri. "Thy dead men shall live, with my dead body shall they arise," Isaiah 26:19.

14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

Ver. 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly] Because they understood him not. Ministers must be "gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing the ignorant," yea, the insolent, 2 Timothy 2:24-25. Augustine confesseth he was glad to use some words, sometimes, to his hearers that were not Latin, to the end that they might understand him.

15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

Ver. 15. I am glad for your sakes] If the confirmation and increase of faith in his be so great a joy to Christ, how acceptable must it needs be unto him, that we believe at first on his name! we cannot do him a greater honour, a more pleasing service. None greater in the father’s house than the prodigal returned. And what a high price did our Saviour set on the centurion’s faith.

16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

Ver. 16. Let us also go that we may die with him] A blunt speech, and (as some think) overly bold. He would die with Christ, and so would Peter; yet none so shamefully forsook him, when it came to the proof, as these two. Thomas was to seek, when he should have seen Christ risen: he had not yet recovered his fright at our Saviour’s apprehension.

17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

Ver. 17. That he had lain in the grave four days] So that he might seem now to come too late. The faith of the two sisters must needs be much shaken, to see their brother dead, though Christ had sent them word he should not die. Hold out, faith and patience, God will be seen in the mount; he usually reserves his hand for a dead lift, when our faith begins to flag and hang the wing, when our strength is gone, and we have given up all for lost. "Now will I arise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself," Isaiah 33:10.

18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

Ver. 18. About fifteen furlongs] Not fully two miles: a short walk, and hence so great a resort to the place; not without a special providence of God, who ordereth all to his own glory. The Jews came only to comfort the sisters, and to condole with them (it is a mercy in misery to find such friends, qui maeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participabunt, as Cyprian hath it, that will set to their shoulders, and bear a part), but God had a further end in that meeting, ne obscura esset Lazari resurrectio, that there might be many witnesses of Lazarus’ resurrection; who might also thereby be made partakers of the first resurrection, Revelation 20:6.

19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

Ver. 19. To comfort them] A pious office, and yet never thought of by the superstitious Papists, amidst all those vain fopperies they prescribe to be done about the dead. Only, what the ancients used for the comfort of the living is perverted by them to the pretended service and help of the dead.

20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

Ver. 20. But Mary sat still in, the house] So, while faith sits at the centre, love walks the round. Dicit Fides, Parata sunt mihi omnia: Dicit Spes, Mihi ista servantur: Dicit Charitas, Ego curro ad illa, Faith says, everything is prepared for me: Hope says, such affairs preserve me: Love says, I run for these matters; saith Bernard.

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Ver. 21. Lord, if thou hadst been here, &c.] Was she sure of that? but why was he dead, if Christ would not, though he were not there? We are all too much fastened to his bodily presence: howbeit, we never come to believe indeed till we are well persuaded of his omnipotence. But how fitly may many a poor soul say to the bloody non-resident, Sir, if thou hadst been here, my brother, child, husband, had not been dead in his sins?

22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

Ver. 22. Whatsoever thou wilt ask] This is our comfort, that our Advocate is all in all with his Father, and may have what he will of him. What need we any other "master of requests" than Christ? If David will hear Joab for Absalom; and Herod, Blastus for the Tyrians, Acts 12:20; what may not we hope?

23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

Ver. 23. Thy brother shall rise again] Let this consideration comfort us in the decease of our dearest friends, they are not lost, but laid up with Christ, who will bring them back with him at his coming, 1 Thessalonians 4:14. As the same divine hand that buried Moses, that locked up this treasure and kept the key of it, brought it forth afterwards glorious in the transfiguration. The body that was hidden in the valley of Moab appeared again in the hill of Tabor.

24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Ver. 24. In the resurrection] The Syriac hath it Benuchama, in the consolation. So the resurrection was ever to the disconsolate believers of both Testaments, Daniel 12:2; Hebrews 11:35. In the primitive Church, when they repeated that article of the creed, "I believe the resurrection of the flesh," they would point to their bodies, and say, etiam huius carnis, even of this very flesh.

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Ver. 25. He that believeth in me, though, &c.] Oh the wonderful force of faith! Questionless (saith a reverend man, Mr S. Ward) justifying faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of God’s word, &c.

26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Ver. 26. Believest thou this?] He saith not, Understandest thou this? For the mysteries of the Christian religion, saith Rupertus, are much better understood by believing than believed by understanding.

27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

Ver. 27. I believe that thou art the Christ] What could Peter say more? Matthew 16:16. Damaris may be as dear to God as Dionysius, a woman (of no note otherwise) as an Areopagite, Acts 17:34.

28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

Ver. 28. Called Mary her sister secretly] By Christ’s command: and secretly, belike, she did it, lest any should tell the Pharisees, and Christ thereby be brought into danger. "Be wise as serpents."

29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

Ver. 29. She arose quickly] Love is winged, and a ready heart makes riddance of God’s work. His people are volunteers, Psalms 110:3. Where the carcase is, there will these eagles be; they scour to his presence, as the doves to the dove cots; they fly as the clouds, &c., Isaiah 60:8.

30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

Ver. 30. Was not yet come into the town] To eat and refresh himself after his long journey; he would do his work first, as Abraham’s servant, Genesis 24:33.

31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

Ver. 31. She goeth unto the grave] That, Niobe-like, she might weep herself into a tombstone. Ex eorum more qui luctus sui irritamenta quaerunt. Of the character of them who seek comfort from their sorrow. Calvin. Such a heathenish custom it seems they had among them, and many other funeral rites, forbidden by the law. But what should dropsy men do eating salted meats?

32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Ver. 32. She fell down at his feet] Giving him divine honour, before all the Jews that were present. So did not Martha, that we read of. Mary had been more diligent in hearing and meditation of the word; hence her greater love and respect to Christ.

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

Ver. 33. When Jesus saw her weeping] Tears are most effectual orators to Christ; when he was going to the cross, he could find time to look back and comfort the weeping woman.

And was troubled] So as for the present he could not utter himself. Yet these passions in Christ were, as clear water in a crystal glass, without sin.

34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

Ver. 34. Where have ye laid him?] He could tell well enough; but yet would be told by them. So, he knows our wants before we open them, and sometimes is pleased to prevent us with a supply; but usually he will hear from us. Come he will to our relief and help, but he will have his people’s prayers lead him. "I came for thy words," saith the angel, Daniel 10:12; Daniel 9:21. While he was speaking in prayer, Gabriel came with "weariness of flight," and touched him "about the evening oblation," which was the hour of prayer.

35 Jesus wept.

Ver. 35. Jesus wept] He wept with those that weep. And the same tenderness he retains still toward his afflicted. As Aaron, though he might not lament his two sons slain by God’s hand in the sanctuary, Leviticus 10:3, yet he had still the heart of a father within him; so hath Christ now, in the heavenly sanctuary; he hath lost nothing by heaven.

36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

Ver. 36. Behold how he loved him] What! for shedding some few tears for him? Oh, how then did he love us for whom he shed the dearest and warmest blood in all his heart! Ama amorem illius, &c., saith Bernard.

37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

Ver. 37. And some of them said] Thus our Saviour is diversely interpreted and censured; and so it is still with his ministers. When we see our auditors before us, little do we know with what hearts they are there, nor what use they will make of their pretended devotion. Doeg may set his foot as far within the tabernacle as David. If some come to serve God, others come to observe their teachers and pick quarrels; yea, if conscience might be judge, many a hearer would be found to have a Herod’s heart toward his minister.

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

Ver. 38. Groaning in himself] To consider, belike, the woeful effects of sin that brought death into the world, even on the best; and makes them a ghastly and loathsome spectacle, so that Abraham desires to bury his beloved Sarah out of his sight. Believe me who have made trial of it, saith Augustine, open a grave, and in the head of the dead man ye shall find toads leaping that are begotten of his brain; serpents crawling on his loins, that are bred out of his kidneys; worms creeping in his belly, that grow out of his bowels. Mihi experto credite, quod apertis sepulchris in capitibus invenielis bufones saltantes generatos ex cerebro. (Serm. 48.) Ecce quid sumus, et quid iam erimus: Ecce in quod resolvimur: En peccati originem et foeditatem! saith that father.

39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

Ver. 39. By this time he stinketh] Ay, the better for that; Christ’s power will be the more manifested. As St Austin said of one that hit him in the teeth with the sins of his youth: The more desperate was the disease, the greater honour redounded to the physician that cured me. Beza’s answer to one that did the like to him, was, Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Christi. This man envies Christ’s grace for me.

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

Ver. 40. Said I not unto thee, &c.] A foul fault in her to be so incredulous; and enough, without the greater mercy of Christ, to have marred all. For unbelief is so vile and venomous an evil, as that it transfuseth a kind of dead palsy into the hands of omnipotence, Mark 6:5. Christ, that can do all things by his absolute power, can do little or nothing by his actual power, for unbelievers. He cannot, because he will not.

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

Ver. 41. Father, I thank thee that, &c.] Beginning to pray, he brings his thanks in his hand, as sure to speed. So must we, Philippians 4:6. And therefore in the law, whatever request they had to God, they must be sure to come with their peace offerings, in token of thankfulness: that they might sing with the Psalmist, "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion," Psalms 65:1. It is said of Tiberius the emperor, that he never denied his favourite Sejanus anything, and oftentimes anticipated his request, so that he needed only to ask and give thanks. (Tacitus.) All God’s people are his favourites, and may have anything that heart can wish or need require.

42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

Ver. 42. And I knew that thou hearest me always] And he always liveth to make intercession for his; who therefore may boldly believe, that they shall want nothing that is good for them, since he is "All in all" with the Father, and may have what he will. In any strait go but to God, and cry as he did, Conqueror tibi lachrymis Iesus Christi, I lament to you by the tear of Jesus Christ, and doubt not of a gracious return of thy prayer.

43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

Ver. 43. Lazarus, come forth] If this voice of Christ had been directed to all the dead, they had presently risen; as sure as they shall rise when the Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, crying, Surgite mortui, venite in iudicium. Arise oh dead, come to the judgment. Pliny reports of the lioness, that she brings forth her whelps dead, and so they remain for the space of three days, until the lion coating near to the place where they lie, lifts up his voice and roars so fiercely, that presently they are raised from death to life. The prophet Jeremiah tells us the like of this Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jeremiah 25:30-31. See the place.

44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Ver. 44. And he that was dead] But where was his soul therewhile? In manu Dei, In the hand of God, not in purgatory, as Papists say, for that is against their own principles. They send none to purgatory but men of a middle make, between just and unjust. Now Lazarus was surely a very good man, else had he not been so dear to Christ. But that purgatory is the pope’s invention, as Tyndale hath it: hear St Augustine, Nemo se decipiat, fratres: duo enim loca sunt, et tertius non est visus. Qui cum Christo regnare non meruit, cum diabolo, absque dubitatione, peribit.

45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

Ver. 45. Believed on him] And so God had his honour and Christ his end in this, according to John 11:4.

46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.

Ver. 46. But some of them, &c.] Lo, reprobates will not believe, though one rose from the dead to them.

47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.

Ver. 47. Then gathered the chief priests] Like unto this was the Council of Trent gathered on purpose to suppress Christ in his true worshippers, and carried by antichrist with such infinite guile and craft, without any sincerity, upright dealing and truth, as that themselves will even smile in the triumphs of their own wits (when they hear it but mentioned), as at a master stratagem.

48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

Ver. 48. The Romans shall come, &c.] And so they did; the thing that they feared came upon them, for their inexpiable guilt in killing the Lord Jesus. Demades, when the emperor sent to his countrymen of Athens to give him divine honour, and they were loth to yield unto it, but consulted about it: Take heed, says he, you be not so busy about heavenly matters as to lose your earthly possessions. These refractory Jews lost both.

49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,

Ver. 49. Ye know nothing at all] Why no: you know all, Caiaphas, all the assessors are but asses to you. Hoc est superbire, quasi super alios ire. This fellow would have made a fine duke of Russia, by whom it is cautionated that there be no schools, lest there should be any scholars but himself. So the Gnostics bragged that they were the only knowing men. (Irenaeus.) And the Jesuits at this day tell us that the empire of learning is confined to their territories. Penes nos est imperium literature. (Eudaem.)

50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

Ver. 50. That one man should die for the people] A brutish and bloody sentence; as if evil might be done that good may come thereof. So, when Farellus, that worthy reformer, came first to Geneva, and was convented there by the bishop, as a disturber of the public peace, one of the Popish assessors cried out, Away with this pestilent Lutheran; better he perish than the town be disquieted. To whom Farellus answered, Noli Caiaphae voces, sed Dei verba proferre, Speak not in the language of Caiaphas, but in the word of God. (Scultet. Annal.)

51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;

Ver. 51. This he spake, not of himself] God spake through him, as through a trunk, or as the angel spake in Balaam’s ass. Wholesome sugar may be found in a poisoned cane, a precious stone in a toad’s head, a flaming torch in a blind man’s hand.

52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Ver. 52. Gather together in one] In one spiritual body, though in place never so distant one from another, Ephesians 4:4; "My dove is but one, the daughters saw her and blessed her," Song of Solomon 6:9. No such oneness, entireness, anywhere else. Other societies may cleave together as the toes of clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s image, but not incorporate.

53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

Ver. 53. Then from that day forth] So baneful is evil counsel, from the mouth of a man of mark especially, to set men eager for mischief.

54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.

Ver. 54. Into a city called Ephraim] Not elsewhere mentioned; built, perhaps, in honour of their father Ephraim, by the posterity of those rash sons of his, that had brought grief to his heart, and to make amends for their miscarriage. See 1 Chronicles 7:21-22.

55 And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.

Ver. 55. Before the Passover, to purify themselves] They had their Parasceve and Proparasceve, their preparation and fore preparation. We must also purify ourselves before the sacrament from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 1 Corinthians 11:27-31, cast all the baggage into the brook Kidron (that is, the town ditch), and then kill the Passover, 2 Chronicles 30:14. The very heathens had their coenam puram before their sacrifices.

56 Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?

Ver. 56. Then sought they for Jesus] Whether these were his friends or enemies, the doctors are divided.

57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.

Ver. 57. Had given a commandment] So dillgent were they, and earnest to execute that cruel decree of the council. This is check to our indolence in the best things. What a shame is it, that they should outwork the children of light in a thorough despatch of their deeds of darkness, and be at more pains to go to hell than we will be to go to heaven.