Luke 17

1 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting!

2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.

3 So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.

4 Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”

6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!

7 “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’?

8 No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’

9 And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not.

10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria.

12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance,

13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!”

16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?

18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

19 And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you. ”

20 One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.

21 You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you. ”

22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it.

23 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them.

24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes.

25 But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation.

26 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.

27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—

29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

31 On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home.

32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!

33 If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.

34 That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left.

35 Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. ”

36

37 “Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked. Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Greek If your brother.
• [b]. See Lev 14:2-32 .
• [c]. Or Your faith has saved you.
• [d]. Or by your speculations.
• [e]. Or is within you, or is in your grasp.
• [f]. Or long for even one day with the Son of Man. “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
• [g]. Some manuscripts do not include on the day.
• [h]. Or suffer many things.
• [i]. Some manuscripts add verse 36, Two men will be working in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Compare Matt 24:40 .
• [j]. Greek “Where, Lord?”
• [k]. Greek “Wherever the carcass is, the vultures gather.”