Sign in
LUKE 4:42 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Luke 4:41Luke 4:43
“And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.”
At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them — the pre-dawn solitude and prayer (implied by the solitary place, cf. Mark 1:35) is Jesus' retreat from the success of the previous day's ministry. The people's attempt to keep him from leaving communicates the crowd's possessive response to Jesus — they want to retain the healer in their location.

Church Fathers on Luke 4:42

When he had bestowed sufficient favor upon the people by miracles, it was necessary for Him to depart. For miracles are always thought greater when the worker is gone, since they themselves are then the more heeded, and have in their turn a voice; as it is said, But when it was as day, he departed, and went.

Chrysostom · 4th century

He went also into the desert, as Mark says, and prayed; not that he needed prayer, but as an example to us of good works.

GREEK EX ·

But if the sun-setting mystically expresses the death of our Lord, the returning day denotes His resurrection, (the light of which being made manifest, He is sought for by the multitudes of believers, and being found in the desert of the Gentiles He is held back by them, lest He should depart;) especially as this took place on the first day of the week, on which day the Resurrection was celebrated.

Bede · 8th century
Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!
Luke 4:42 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy