The interpretation timeline

Luke 4:38

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

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Patristic before A.D. 750
Ambrose of Milan · A.D. 339–397 A.D. 397
“Luke having first introduced a man delivered from an evil spirit, goes on to relate the healing of a woman. For our Lord had come to heal each sex, and he ought first to be healed who was first created. Hence it is said, And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 4:38-39 PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗
Ambrose of Milan · A.D. 339–397 A.D. 397
“But if we weigh these things with deeper thoughts, we shall consider the health of the mind as well as the body; that the mind which was assailed by the wiles of the devil may be released first. Eve was not a hungered before the serpent beguiled her, and therefore against the author of evil himself ought the medicine of salvation first to operate. Perhaps also in that woman as in a type our flesh languished under the various fevers of crimes, nor should I say that the fever of love was less than that of bodily heat.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 4:38-39 PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗
John Chrysostom · A.D. 347–407 A.D. 407
“(ut sup.) For since the disease was curable, He shewed His power by the manner of the cure, doing what art could never do. For after the allaying of the fever, the patient needs much time ere he be restored to his former health, but at this time all took place at once.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 4:38-39 PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗
Cyril of Alexandria · A.D. 376–444 A.D. 444
“Now see how Christ abides in the house of a poor man, suffering poverty of His own will for our sakes, that we might learn to visit the poor, and despise not the destitute and needy. It follows: And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever: and they besought him for her.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 4:38-39 PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗
Cyril of Alexandria · A.D. 376–444 A.D. 444
“Let us therefore receive Jesus. For when He has visited us, we carry Him in our heart and mind; He will then extinguish the flames of our unlicensed pleasures, and will make us whole, so that we minister unto Him, that is, do things well-pleasing to Him.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 4:38-39 PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗
291 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Bede the Venerable · c. A.D. 672–735 A.D. 735
“At one time at the request of others, at another of his own accord, our Saviour cures the sick, shewing that He is far aloof from the passions of sinners, and ever grants the prayer of the faithful, and what they in themselves little understand He either makes intelligible, or forgives their not understanding it. As, Who understands his errors? Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults. (Ps. 19:12.)”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 4:38-39 PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗
Bede the Venerable · c. A.D. 672–735 A.D. 735
“For if we say that a man released from the devil represents morally the mind cleansed from unclean thoughts, consequently a woman vexed by fever, but cured at our Lord’s command, represents the flesh controlled by the rules of continence in the fury of its own lust.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 4:38-39 PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗

The reader meets the sources first; chronology and attribution do the work. Provenance is shown on every quotation — solid for hosted public domain, dashed for link-out.