The people contrast Him with John. This agrees with what is said of the place, viz. that John had baptized there; the people recollected him. The teaching of our Lord in Peræa, of which we have an account only in Luke, chaps, xv., xvi., was probably given about this time.
a.d. 30. February.
Early in this month our Lord leaves Peræa, where He had been travelling about, being warned by the Pharisees—
“And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on unto Jerusalem.” Luke xiii. 22.
“In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get thee out, and go hence: for Herod would fain kill thee.” St Luke xiii. 31.
a.d. 30. March.
While on this progress the news of the sickness of Lazarus reaches our Lord. He seems then to have been little more than a day's journey from Jerusalem, but outside the limits of Judæa:
“The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby.”[350] John xi. 3, 4.
“When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was. Then after this he saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judæa again.” John xi. 6, 7.
After the raising of Lazarus, the chief priests and Pharisees “from that day forth took counsel that they might put him (Jesus) to death: Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there he tarried with the disciples.” John xi. 53, 54.