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Luke 5 · a question people ask

Great multitudes were coming to hear him and to be healed (5:15). Why did Jesus withdraw to pray?

In the text

Luke doesn't say why. He sets the two sentences side by side: "But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. But he withdrew himself into the desert and prayed." (5:15-16). He doesn't say what Jesus prayed, or for how long. What Luke does tell, here and elsewhere, is Jesus praying: "Jesus also had been baptized and was praying" (3:21), "he continued all night in prayer to God" (6:12), and "As he was praying alone, the disciples were near him" (9:18). These notes don't supply a reason the chapter doesn't give.

The verses

“But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. But he withdrew himself into the desert and prayed.”
Luke 5:15-16 · World English Bible
“Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized and was praying. The sky was opened,”
Luke 3:21 · World English Bible
“In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God.”
Luke 6:12 · World English Bible
“As he was praying alone, the disciples were near him, and he asked them, “Who do the multitudes say that I am?””
Luke 9:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Luke 5

Luke 5: At your word

At Jesus's knees, Simon Peter calls himself "a sinful man", and Jesus answers, "Don’t be afraid." The Greek word behind sinful comes back twice before Luke 5 ends: in the question of the scribes and the Pharisees, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?", and in Jesus's own "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

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Last reviewed October 1, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions