John 12:1 Commentary and Bible Study

John now moves to the last days of Christ on earth, some two months after the events of the preceding chapter, and Christ is now on his way to Jerusalem for the last days of his earthly life before his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.He comes from Jericho, in all probability, though it is not absolutely certain. It may have been that he was travelling with a great crowd of pilgrims because the record tells us that there were many coming from the countryside from all parts. On the Jericho-Jerusalem road at this time there would have been one or more caravans, groups of people coming down to the Passover, to the purification beforehand at Jerusalem. It was one of the compulsory feasts for the men of the land; not that they all went, but vast numbers did, and the numbers would have been particularly swollen this year because there seems to be a general expectation that Christ would be there. The people by and large knew that a great sword hung above Christ’s head, because the Sanhedrin council of the Jews had determined that he would be taken and arrested. Many of them believed he was Messiah but they expected a political Messiah, who somehow would raise a great number of forces and get rid of the Roman yoke. Was he going to do this at the feast? How was this impasse between the Lord Jesus Christ and the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees going to be resolved? There was tremendous tension and expectation.About two miles from Jerusalem, he detached himself so it appears with his disciples and went to Bethany, where just two months earlier he had raised Lazarus from the dead. Meanwhile the other pilgrims continue on to Jerusalem, and probably it was them that spread the news that Christ was coming to Jerusalem.