Two days later it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to seize Him by deceit and kill Him.
This verse opens the final course of Christ’s sufferings. Passover reminded Israel of its deliverance from Egypt and of being spared from death by the blood of the sacrificed lamb (Exodus 12:3–14). In those very days the sacrifice of the true Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, was drawing near, by which not only the remembrance of Israel’s ancient deliverance would be fulfilled, but also the great mystery of salvation from sin (1 Corinthians 5:7). The High Priest and the scribes, who ought to have led the people to God’s truth, were now cunningly seeking a way to seize and kill the Son of God. This shows the dreadful corruption of religious office when the heart loses the fear of God. They acted in secret and with evil intent, yet within God’s providence even their evil would serve the fulfillment of the plan of salvation (Acts 2:23).