Verse of the Day for March 30

Two things have just happened, and either one would justify a crowd. He has heard that John the Baptist was executed, and he has fed five thousand people.

So this verse follows the worst news of his ministry and its most public miracle, in that order.

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

He sent them away. That is an act of will, not a lucky gap in the diary — the crowd did not disperse and leave him with an evening free.

Alone is stated twice in the sentence, in different words. Matthew wants it noticed.

Grief and success both generate company, and both generate reasons that being alone would be irresponsible. He treated the mountain as more necessary than the reasons.

Solitude almost never appears in a diary on its own. Somebody has to send the multitudes away, and it will always look slightly rude.

After grief, and after success, he went up the same mountain.