But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
The verse records the decision of the Jewish leaders — the chief priests, elders, rulers, scribes, and Pharisees — not to seize Jesus during the feast or openly, but secretly and by treachery, for fear of an uproar or tumult among the people. They feared the people because the people were His friends and favored Him and would not then have allowed harm to come to Him. Many who had witnessed His mighty works believed Him to be a prophet from God and would have been greatly angered by any attempt against His freedom, so the leaders judged open violence to be bad policy.
Popular sympathy was especially strong after He raised Lazarus, and the leaders also decided Lazarus must die because they feared his living witness to the miracle would turn public opinion against them and threaten their power. To accomplish their purpose in the absence of the multitude, they sought someone who would secretly betray Him, and found in Judas, one of the twelve disciples, the man to do this base act. Had it not been for this fear of the people, they would have accomplished their purpose long before.
Carrying out the killing in secret did not lessen their responsibility for rejecting and killing the innocent Christ. They lacked authority to execute Him themselves, since that power had passed from them into the hands of the Romans, so the case had to be referred to the Roman authorities for final decision. Although they had first decided against acting on the feast day, they then felt there was no time to lose and were anxious to hasten His trial and execution at once, because the immediate celebration of the Passover would otherwise cause a delay of a week. In that delay Jesus would be kept in bonds, the intense excitement of the mob clamoring for His life would be allayed, a natural reaction would set in, the better part of the people would become aroused in His behalf, and in all probability His release would be accomplished.
The verse records the decision of the Jewish leaders — the chief priests, elders, rulers, scribes, and Pharisees — not to seize Jesus during the feast or openly, but secretly and by treachery, for fear of an uproar or tumult among the people. They feared the people because the people were His friends and favored Him and would not then have allowed harm to come to Him. Many who had witnessed His mighty works believed Him to be a prophet from God and would have been greatly angered by any attempt against His freedom, so the leaders judged open violence to be bad policy.
Popular sympathy was especially strong after He raised Lazarus, and the leaders also decided Lazarus must die because they feared his living witness to the miracle would turn public opinion against them and threaten their power. To accomplish their purpose in the absence of the multitude, they sought someone who would secretly betray Him, and found in Judas, one of the twelve disciples, the man to do this base act. Had it not been for this fear of the people, they would have accomplished their purpose long before.
Carrying out the killing in secret did not lessen their responsibility for rejecting and killing the innocent Christ. They lacked authority to execute Him themselves, since that power had passed from them into the hands of the Romans, so the case had to be referred to the Roman authorities for final decision. Although they had first decided against acting on the feast day, they then felt there was no time to lose and were anxious to hasten His trial and execution at once, because the immediate celebration of the Passover would otherwise cause a delay of a week. In that delay Jesus would be kept in bonds, the intense excitement of the mob clamoring for His life would be allayed, a natural reaction would set in, the better part of the people would become aroused in His behalf, and in all probability His release would be accomplished.