And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.
And when he had thus spoken, he went before. See the note at Mark 10:32, and Remark 1 at the close of that section.
Ascending up to Jerusalem. Here occurs an important gap, supplied in the Fourth Gospel.
John 12:1: "Then Jesus, six days before the Passover" - probably after sunset on the Friday Evening, or at the commencement of the Jewish Sabbath, which preceded the Passover - "came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom He [had] raised from the dead." There, if we are right as to the time of His arrival, He would spend His last Sabbath among friends peculiarly dear to Him, and possibly it was on the evening of that Sabbath that "there they made Him a supper, at the house of Simon the leper." See the note at Mark 14:3, etc. At all events, it was on the day following, which was the First Day of the Week, that He made this His triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. This corresponded to the tenth day of the month Nisan, in the Jewish year, the day on which the paschal lamb was separated from the rest of the flock, and set apart for sacrifice: it was "kept up until the fourteenth day," on which "the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel were to kill it in the evening" х beeyn (H996) haa`arbaayim (H6153)] literally, 'between the two evenings' (as in the margin); that is, between three o'clock-the hour of the evening sacrifice-and six o'clock, or the close of the Jewish day (Exodus 12:3; Exodus 12:6). Who can believe that this was a mere coincidence? Who that observes how every act in the final scenes was alluded to, arranged and carried out with a calm dignity, as seeing the end from the beginning, can doubt that "Christ our Passover" who was to be "sacrificed for us," designed, by His solemn entry into the bloody city, yet the appointed place of sacrifice, to hold Himself forth as from this time set apart for sacrifice? Accordingly, He never after this properly left Jerusalem-merely sleeping at Bethany, but spending the whole of every day in the city.