Luke 17

1 Jesus said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that causes of stumbling should come; but alas for him through whom they come!

2 It would be well for him if, with a millstone round his neck, he were lying at the bottom of the sea, rather than that he should cause even one of these little ones to fall.

3 Be on your guard. "If your brother acts wrongly, reprove him; and if he is sorry, forgive him;

4 and if seven times in a day he acts wrongly towards you, and seven times turns again to you and says, `I am sorry,' you must forgive him."

5 And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Give us faith."

6 "If your faith," replied the Lord, "is like a mustard seed, you might command this black-mulberry-tree, `Tear up your roots and plant yourself in the sea,' and instantly it would obey you.

7 But which of you who has a servant ploughing, or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the farm, `Come at once and take your place at table,'

8 and will not rather say to him, `Get my dinner ready, make yourself tidy, and wait upon me till I have finished my dinner, and then you shall have yours'?

9 Does he thank the servant for obeying his orders?

10 So you also, when you have obeyed all the orders given you, must say, "`There is no merit in our service: what we have done is only what we were in duty bound to do.'"

11 As they pursued their journey to Jerusalem, He passed through Samaria and Galilee.

12 And as He entered a certain village, ten men met Him who were lepers and stood at a distance.

13 In loud voices they cried out, "Jesus, Rabbi, take pity on us."

14 Perceiving this, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the Priests." And while on their way to do this they were made clean.

15 One of them, seeing that he was cured, came back, adoring and praising God in a loud voice,

16 and he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, thanking Him. He was a Samaritan.

17 "Were not all ten made clean?" Jesus asked; "but where are the nine?

18 Have none been found to come back and give glory to God except this foreigner?"

19 And He said to him, "Rise and go: your faith has cured you."

20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, He answered, "The Kingdom of God does not so come that you can stealthily watch for it.

21 Nor will they say, `See here!' or `See there!' --for the Kingdom of God is within you."

22 Then, turning to His disciples, He said, "There will come a time when you will wish you could see a single one of the days of the Son of Man, but will not see one.

23 And they will say to you, `See there!' `See here!' Do not start off and go in pursuit.

24 For just as the lightning, when it flashes, shines from one part of the horizon to the opposite part, so will the Son of Man be on His day.

25 But first He must endure much suffering, and be rejected by the present generation.

26 "And as it was in the time of Noah, so will it also be in the time of the Son of Man.

27 Men were eating and drinking, taking wives and giving wives, up to the very day on which Noah entered the Ark, and the Deluge came and destroyed them all.

28 The same was true in the time of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building;

29 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from the sky and destroyed them all.

30 Exactly so will it be on the day that the veil is lifted from the Son of Man.

31 "On that day, if a man is on the roof and his property indoors, let him not go down to fetch it; and, in the same way, he who is in the field, let him not turn back.

32 Remember Lot's wife.

33 Any man who makes it his object to keep his own life safe, will lose it; but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

34 On that night, I tell you, there will be two men in one bed: one will be taken away and the other left behind.

35 There will be two women turning the mill together: one will be taken away and the other left behind."

36 []

37 "Where, Master?" they inquired. "Where the dead body is," He replied, "there also will the vultures flock together."

Luke 17 Commentary

Chapter 17

To avoid offences, To pray for increase of faith, Humility taught.11-19. Ten lepers cleansed. (1-10) Christ's kingdom. (20-37)

Verses 1-10 It is no abatement of their guilt by whom an offence comes, nor will it lessen their punishment that offences will come. Faith in God's pardoning mercy, will enable us to get over the greatest difficulties in the way of forgiving our brethren. As with God nothing is impossible, so all things are possible to him that can believe. Our Lord showed his disciples their need of deep humility. The Lord has such a property in every creature, as no man can have in another; he cannot be in debt to them for their services, nor do they deserve any return from him.

Verses 11-19 A sense of our spiritual leprosy should make us very humble whenever we draw near to Christ. It is enough to refer ourselves to the compassions of Christ, for they fail not. We may look for God to meet us with mercy, when we are found in the way of obedience. Only one of those who were healed returned to give thanks. It becomes us, like him, to be very humble in thanksgivings, as well as in prayers. Christ noticed the one who thus distinguished himself, he was a Samaritan. The others only got the outward cure, he alone got the spiritual blessing.

Verses 20-37 The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them. It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divine grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what state the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Here is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roman armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as is here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who are marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God.