54 So Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near to the waste land, to a town named Ephraim, where he was for some time with the disciples. 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and numbers of people went up from the country to Jerusalem to make themselves clean before the Passover. 56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another while they were in the Temple, What is your opinion? Will he not come to the feast? 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone had knowledge where he was, he was to give them word, so that they might take him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 11:54-57
Commentary on John 11:54-57
(Read John 11:54-57)
Before our gospel passover we must renew our repentance. Thus by a voluntary purification, and by religious exercises, many, more devout than their neighbours, spent some time before the passover at Jerusalem. When we expect to meet God, we must solemnly prepare. No devices of man can alter the purposes of God: and while hypocrites amuse themselves with forms and disputes, and worldly men pursue their own plans, Jesus still orders all things for his own glory and the salvation of his people.