Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man does many miracles.
All Commentaries on John 11:47 Go To John 11
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, &c.
What do we? (What does it behove us to do? Syriac, What shall we do?)
For this man doeth many miracles. It behoved them to be convinced by so many signs and miracles of Jesus, and to believe Him to be Messiah, the Son of God; but blinded by hate and envy, they say and do the contrary, and studiously avoid condescending even to name Him, but say, This Prayer of Manasseh , as if He were a common and worthless person ("They still call Him Prayer of Manasseh ," says Chrysostom, "who had received so great a proof of His Godhead"), and consult concerning His murder, and propose to bereave of life Him who had restored life to Lazarus, and from whom they ought to seek and hope for life eternal. They did not say "Let us believe," says S. Augustine, "but, lost men as they were, thought more of how they might injure Him, and destroy Him, than of how they might consult for their own safety, that they perish not. Their foolish heart was darkened, so that they forced on the destruction, present and lasting, of themselves and their whole nation." "What foolishness and blindness," says Origen, "that they should think themselves able to effect anything against Him whom they testify to have done many miracles, as if He were not able to deliver Himself out of their snares!"
