A brief period of retirement.
Jesus was now forced to withdraw for a time into a lonely place, so as to place himself beyond the reach of the Sanhedrim
I. THE PLACE OF HIS RETIREMENT. "Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence into a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples."
1. The place lay some distance north of Jerusalem, on the borders of the desert.
2. It was well adapted for a brief period of quiet and unbroken intercourse with his disciples, that he might prepare them for his approaching end.
II. THE CURIOSITY OF THE COUNTRY PEOPLE AT JERUSALEM RESPECTING JESUS.
1. It was near the time of the Passover, and many Jews had gone up to purify themselves for the feast.
2. They had heard so much respecting his miracles, his parables, his discourses, that they sought him out to gratify a not unnatural curiosity. "They said among themselves, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? The question suggests that, aware of the plot of the Sanhedrin for his destruction, Jesus might stay away from the feast.
3. They had been made acquainted with the decree of the Sanhedrin. "Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had also given a commandment, that, if any man heard where he was, he should show it, that they might take him."
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON