The Humble King

Luke 17

Main Idea: Jesus teaches the values and ethics of the kingdom of God.

1. Jesus Commands Us to Forgive (17:1-10).
   1. Offense: You must forgive (17:1-4).
   2. Unbelief: You must have faith (17:5-6).
   3. Pride: You must obey (17:7-10).
2. Jesus Expects Us to Be Thankful (17:11-19).
   1. Sick men’s request (17:12-13)
   2. The Savior’s merciful reply (17:14)
   3. The Samaritan’s return (17:15-16)
   4. The Savior’s final response (17:17-19)
3. Jesus Is Coming in His Kingdom (17:20-37).
   1. The Pharisees can’t see it (17:20-21).
   2. The disciples can’t miss it (17:22-25).
   3. The world won’t expect it (17:26-30).
   4. Only the self-denying will find it (17:31-33).
   5. Those who miss it will perish (17:34-37).

Luke 17 opens with the Lord Jesus Christ headed to Jerusalem. He is going to Jerusalem to give his life as a ransom for sinners. Three times Jesus has already predicted his trial, conviction, crucifixion, and resurrection in Jerusalem.

In this section of travel to Jerusalem, we find Jesus doing the things he customarily does: teaching people about the kingdom of God and performing miracles that authenticate his teaching. The chapter divides into three scenes. The first scene begins in verse 1 where the Lord Jesus teaches his disciples. The second scene begins in verse 11 where the Lord passes between two largely Gentile regions of Samaria and Galilee. There the Lord performs a miracle. The third scene begins in verse 20 where the Pharisees ask Jesus a question about when the kingdom of God is to come.

Jesus Commands Us to Forgive

Luke 17:1-10

Offense: You Must Forgive (17:1-4)

The first scene in our chapter opens with Jesus speaking to his disciples. In verse 1 the Lord gives the disciples two facts of life.

Fact #1: “Offenses will certainly come” (v. 1). An “offense” is a stumbling block, something that might cause a person to fall into sin—a temptation. Make no mistake about it. Every living person will face temptation to sin. If you have never been tempted, then either you are very young or you are oblivious. Temptations are a fact of life. Now, being tempted is not the same thing as sin itself. A temptation is a pull, an influence, an enticement to do wrong. Being or feeling tempted is not itself sin. Temptation gives birth to sin when we give in to it (Jas 1:14-15). Jesus reminds us that we live in a world where we will feel or experience the influence of temptation.

Fact #2: “But woe to the one through whom they come!” (v. 1). In other words, there’s something worse than feeling tempted to stumble. It’s worse to be the one who brings the offense, who does the tempting. A tempter’s life resembles the life of the first tempter, Satan. The one facing temptation may escape sin, but the one tempting others will not escape judgment. Jesus says, “Woe” on them. That “woe” means the ones who tempt others will surely and seriously be condemned.

Arguing from the lesser to the greater, the Lord illustrates how serious and inescapable that condemnation is (v. 2). Drowning with a millstone anchored to our necks is the lesser thing! Far worse is the greater thing of God’s condemnation!

Let that word picture play out in your mind. An ancient millstone weighed quite a bit. Though women often used millstones in Israel, it sometimes took several men to move one from its place. These large stones carved in circles usually had a hollow center, like a huge, stone donut. The Lord asks us to imagine a rope tied around a millstone through that center and tied on the other end around the tempter’s neck. I imagine the tempter and the millstone are somehow in a seagoing vessel when the stone is thrown overboard. First the rope would snap taught as the weight of the stone sent it diving toward the bottom of the sea. Then would come the violet snap of the rope at the tempter’s neck as it pulls him overboard into the ocean. The tempter splashes into the water—not upright as if to dog paddle or horizontally as if to swim—but head first with feet thrashing overhead. You’re wrestling with the taught rope, wanting to scream except there’s water all around. You feel the salt water rushing into your eyes and nose. Finally, unable to hold your breath any longer, your mouth flies open and water floods into your mouth and eventually your lungs. While conscious, you fight in terror, upside down in the sea, struggling against an invincible weight and desperate for life’s necessary air.

It would be better to suffer that way than to suffer the “woe” of God against sin and the tempter.

Because temptation and sin are facts of life, the Lord tells us, “Be on your guard” (v. 3). In other words, watch out for yourself and each other. As our church covenant requires, we are to “exercise a watchful and affectionate care for each other.” In particular, we must pay attention to this matter of rebuking and forgiving. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him” (v. 3). A church is a collection of people receiving and giving correction as we avoid temptation while living for Christ.

One temptation we can face is to be all rebuking and no forgiving. If you are excited about the prospect of rebuking someone, you’re probably tempted toward being harsh. On the other hand, someone may gravitate toward being forgiving and never seeing the need to rebuke others. If you are glad to forgive, failing to offer a correcting word when it’s needed may be your temptation. Such a failure is not more loving than being harsh. The Lord gives us a balanced instruction that includes both rebuking for sin and forgiving for repentance.

“And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him” (v. 4). Every act of repentance requires an act of forgiveness. The Lord’s words are strong: “You must forgive him.” It’s a command. In Matthew 6:13-15 Jesus says,

“And do not bring us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”

Forgiving others is so important that God won’t forgive us unless we forgive others.

At this point, we could have two wrong responses to this teaching.

Unbelief: You Must Have Faith (17:5-6)

The first wrong response is unbelief. That must have been what some of the disciples felt. “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (v. 5). Maybe you read verse 4 and thought something similar: “The Lord will have to help me with that one. I don’t know if I can forgive all like that.”

Well, it is easier to say, “You must forgive” (v. 4), than it is to actually forgive in some cases. That’s true. But remember in verse 1 the Lord said that stumbling blocks “will certainly come.” Unforgiveness is one such temptation to stumble into sin. We don’t want to give in and sin by refusing to forgive our confessing brother or sister.

When we feel tempted to not forgive, we need to remember verse 6. We can stagger at those words if we only think about the fact that we’ve never seen a tree literally move at a human’s command. If we read or hear the words that way, then we are likely driven deeper into unbelief. So we must ask ourselves, “What is the Lord’s pastoral point with this saying? What does he want us to take away from these words?” The Lord pushes against unbelief, so going deeper into it must not be his aim.

I don’t think the Lord’s statement in verse 6 is meant to be taken literally. It’s hyperbole. He’s exaggerating to make a point. He’s saying a small amount of faith can move a tree into the ocean. Surely with even smaller faith you can forgive your brothers and sisters who sin against you. Which is harder? To command a tree to move into the ocean or to forgive our brothers and sisters when they sin against us? If with a little faith we can move trees, then with tiny faith we can forgive.

Pride: You Must Obey (17:7-10)

But now there’s an opposite problem. Some people may be tempted to stumble into sin when they face the challenge of forgiving others, but other people may face the temptation of pride when they do forgive others. We can feel like we should get a medal and a parade when we forgive. That’s why the Lord tells the short parable of verses 7-10.

The rhetorical questions in this parable underscore the nature of the master-servant relationship. A servant does not take a seat beside his master and eat with him right out of the field. The master does not thank the servant for doing what he was told to do. The same is true when Jesus commands us to forgive (v. 10). Forgiveness is our duty as servants. Forgiving others is not a reason to boast. We are not to feel entitled to a “thank you” from the Lord or a seat at the table beside him. We have only done our duty. Remembering this keeps us from the temptation to pride.

Application

The necessity of forgiveness becomes even clearer when we learn in Matthew 6:14-15 that we will not be forgiven by God if we do not forgive others. Our duty to forgive is bound together with whether or not we have been forgiven ourselves. Not only do hurt people hurt people, but forgiven people forgive people.

The question is, Is there any brother or sister you must forgive? Ask the Lord for faith, then go obey as a faithful servant.

Jesus Expects Us to Be Thankful

Luke 17:11-19

In verse 11 the scene switches to Jesus “traveling to Jerusalem . . . between Samaria and Galilee.” Samaria and Galilee were both heavily Gentile areas. The people there would have been regarded as outsiders, foreigners to the covenant of God.

Sick Men’s Request (17:12-13)

“As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and raised their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’” (vv. 12-13). Leprosy was a skin disease. The disease, sometimes contagious, made them “unclean” according to Jewish law, so they had to be isolated from the city and from people. Wherever lepers traveled, they were to call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” as a warning to others to stay away from them. How difficult it must have been to be required to be the prophet of your own uncleanness, the herald of your own unworthiness before God. Imagine the burden of having to tell everyone you encountered that you were “unclean.”

Imagining such a life helps us understand why they call out for mercy. In our sin we differ very little from these lepers. Our sins make us all unclean. We should all cry out to God for mercy.

The Savior’s Merciful Reply (17:14)

In sending them to see the priests (v. 14), Jesus was obeying the word of God. Before a leper could be declared clean and brought back into the camp, a priest had to examine him. Even more wonderful than our Lord’s simple obedience to God’s word is his mercy to these men. “While they were going, they were cleansed.” In the very act of turning to obey Jesus, the Lord took away their disease. With a word, from a distance, the Lord answered their prayers for mercy. He heard their humble cries. He healed them. A prayer for mercy is the prayer Jesus always answers in the Gospels.

I love the way Jesus loves lepers. I love the way the Master gives attention to the unclean. Before him is the most important task in the universe—the cross. He has fixed his face like flint to go to Jerusalem. But on the way some nameless lepers on an isolated hill call out to him, and the Savior of the universe takes time to show mercy! Is this not a beautiful God? Some people worship cruel gods who crush their worshipers, but the one true and living God does not crush us in our weakness or finally cast us out in our uncleanness. When we cry for mercy, he answers our prayer!

The Samaritan Man’s Return (17:15-16)

One of the men saw that he was healed. When he saw it, he “returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God,” and “He fell facedown at [Jesus’s] feet, thanking him.” He had been a leper separated by the law and social distance, but in mercy Christ eliminated the distance between the leper and God. Now he’s a healed, clean man right at the feet of Christ. That’s reason to give thanks!

Now, you’d think everyone who was healed would have given thanks to God. You’d think the other nine, when they heard this man “with a loud voice” praising God, would have turned back to see what he was saying. You’d think that the most thankful would have been the Jewish persons in the text. But it was the Samaritan who turned back (v. 16).

Perhaps two things should happen with each of us every morning when we wake. If nothing else, we should first say to the Lord, “Thank you for waking me this morning.” Then, second, we should pray, “Lord, have mercy.”

The Savior’s Final Response (17:17-19)

The Lord wonders, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” (vv. 17-18; emphasis added).

When the Lord answers our prayers, the only appropriate response is thanksgiving. From the moment we’re children, our parents teach us to say “Thank you” when someone gives us something. How much more should we do that when God answers our prayers for mercy?

And how much more should it be the case when the people of God receive mercy? We’re supposed to recognize the irony here: It’s the Samaritan foreigner who returns with thanks—not the nine Jewish people. God’s people take him for granted and don’t even give thanks, but this man outside the covenant of Israel recognizes what has happened and falls down in worship.

Here’s another reason I love Jesus: Almost no one reading this would even hope to know God if the Lord had not determined, before the world was created, to establish Israel as his chosen people but then to send the Messiah to justify Gentiles as well (Gal 3:8). If the Lord had not appointed “foreigners” to eternal life, none of us would have a prospect for salvation. But the Lord determined to take a people who were not his people and make them his people (Rom 9:25-26), one new man, Jew and Gentile (Eph 2:11-22), known by his name. We would all be lost if our merciful Lord had not thought from eternity past to include us.

It’s to this foreign man that Jesus says, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you” (v. 19). The gospel says to the unclean foreigner, “Come to your Lord’s feet and receive his mercy.”

Application

We should never forget the Lord’s love and concern for the lepers of society. The Lord loves those who have been cast out of the community. He loves those who are thought of as “unclean.” He hears their prayers for mercy. He heals them. He accepts their worship and their thanksgiving. In the Bible it’s not the religious Jews who get praise for their religious attitudes and actions. In the Bible, especially the Gospels, it’s the social rejects who receive the most praise for coming to the Lord in faith.

Jesus Is Coming in His Kingdom

Luke 17:20-37

Our third and final scene begins in verse 20. Verses 1-19 give us commercials for the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God produces a community of people who repent and forgive. The church is meant to practice these graces constantly until Christ comes to perfect his bride. The kingdom breaks into the world with healing and restoration, which points to the ultimate healing and restoration when all imperfections and distortions of beauty are fixed.

These “commercials” prompt the Pharisees to inquire of Jesus “when the kingdom of God would come” (v. 20). Though the Pharisees asked the question, the Lord’s answer addresses several groups.

The Pharisees Can’t See It (17:20-21)

The Pharisees expected a literal physical kingdom on earth. They wanted an earthly ruler. They didn’t understand the nature of God’s kingdom. It’s not a kingdom you can mark with borders or establish with war. It’s a spiritual kingdom that was already in their midst. Everywhere the gospel goes and people respond to it in faith, there you have an expression of the kingdom. The rule of God had already begun and was spreading, but they couldn’t see it. They didn’t have spiritual eyes to see it though it was in their midst. They had asked the question of the very King of the kingdom because they missed it!

If you are not a Christian, you do not have to search in far-off places to find the kingdom of God. It is in your midst. It can even be in you if you would put your trust in Jesus Christ.

The Disciples Can’t Miss It (17:22-25)

While the Pharisees couldn’t see the kingdom, the disciples couldn’t miss it. The Lord turns to talk with his disciples in verse 22. He says essentially three things to them.

Do not believe it when people tell you they know where the kingdom is (vv. 22-23). Don’t follow them. Think of how many cult tragedies would never have happened if people would take seriously these two verses. There would be no Jim Jones at Jonestown. There would be no David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco. There’d be no Heaven’s Gate cult massacre. All of these people died because they listened to someone say, “The kingdom is over there!” or “Look! There’s the messiah!” If someone tells you they know the secret path to the kingdom, point to Luke 17:22 and refuse to believe them or give them a hearing.

The coming of the kingdom will be like lightning that fills the entire sky (v. 24). The disciples can’t miss it. It’s unmistakable. You won’t need someone to point you to it. It’ll be plain for all the disciples to see. Christ’s coming will be so glorious and obvious it will petrify the world. The world will stand still in awe of the brilliance and glory of the coming of the Son of God. His coming is the blessed hope of the church (Titus 2:13). If you have this hope in you, it will be fulfilled.

There’s only one event before the coming (v. 25). A lot of Christian theology presents the Lord’s second coming in elaborate schemes and charts. But notice how Jesus puts it. Verse 25: “But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation” (emphasis added). In other words, first the Lord must make it to Jerusalem where he will be mocked, rejected, tried, and crucified. In Jerusalem the Lord Jesus will die for the sins of the world and be resurrected three days later to save all those who believe in him. That’s first. But there is no “second” mentioned. After the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection, the coming of the kingdom could happen at any time.

The World Won’t Expect It (17:26-30)

The world will continue with its business. That’s what the world was doing “in the days of Noah” (v. 26). That’s what the world was doing “in the days of Lot” (v. 27). The world was going to work, partying, marrying, eating and drinking, starting businesses, planting gardens, and so on. Life continued as it had always happened. The righteous Noah warned his generation, but no one believed him. Lot attempted to warn his sons-in-law, but no one believed him. And in a moment—as the world continued on without expecting—the floods began in Noah’s day and fire began falling from the sky in Lot’s day. When the rain and the fire came in those two judgments, it was already too late for those who thought life would continue as usual. So, captivated with the hum of a busy world, they failed to consider the announcement of God’s salvation from God’s judgment. The judgment of God came against the world and against Sodom and there was no escape. God “destroyed them all” (vv. 27,29). God’s judgment against sin is so complete and perfect there will be no escape unless we escape through Jesus Christ.

God’s judgment is real, and it is coming. God’s salvation is free, and it is for you. Through the atonement of Christ for your sin and his resurrection for your justification, God freely offers to you his escape from wrath and his invitation to his love. Repent of your sin and believe on Christ before the judgment of God comes!

Only the Self-Denying Will Find It (17:31-33)

When the day of the Lord comes, it will not be a time for getting your possessions and going back to your homes. Those three simple words of verse 32 are poignant: “Remember Lot’s wife!” When the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he sent angels to rescue Lot and his family. But Lot’s wife loved that wicked city. While they were fleeing, she looked back with longing and was turned to a pillar of salt. She nearly escaped the judgment, but while running away she broke God’s command to not look back. She paid the price. The day of the Lord will be like that. Those who look back with fondness for this world will perish.

But the ones who lose their lives will keep them. The Lord is fond of this saying; he uses it at different times in the Gospel. Verse 33 captures the counterintuitive nature of the kingdom. We don’t save our lives by tightly grasping them in this world. We die to ourselves. We deny ourselves. We lay down our lives in faith in order to live for Christ. Everyone who does that will keep his or her life forever in God’s kingdom. We can’t live for God until we die to ourselves.

Those Who Miss It Will Perish (17:34-37)

That’s the sad truth. “Where the corpse is, there also the vultures will be gathered” (v. 37) is not heaven. Everything in heaven is alive. There are no corpses, no carrion. A corpse is a dead, lifeless body. Vultures are birds that eat dead things. There is no rapture to be with Christ from that place. This is a final judgment, a picture of death.

There are only two ways to live. We may sleep peacefully and work joyfully knowing we have a place in the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Or we may be taken suddenly and carried to the place of death because we never repented and believed in Christ. If those are the only two ways to live, then surely the choice is clear. Believe in Christ and enter his kingdom.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Do you find forgiving others difficult? Why or why not?
2. Do you find asking for forgiveness difficult? Why or why not?
3. What kinds of things have made extending and seeking forgiveness more doable? How has God helped you as you have stepped out in faith to forgive or seek forgiveness?
4. Is there any brother or sister you need to forgive or from whom you need to seek forgiveness?
5. Can you recall a time when God showed you mercy? Did you give thanks to the Lord for it?
6. With pencil and paper, spend some time listing all the reasons you can think of for giving God thanks.
7. How often do you think about the coming of our Lord? Is it your “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13)? What difference does remembering the second coming make in your daily life?