1 He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!
2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.
3 Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.
4 If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."
5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
6 The Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, 'Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
7 But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say, when he comes in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down at the table,'
8 and will not rather tell him, 'Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink'?
9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not.
10 Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.'"
11 It happened as he was on his way to Jerusalem, that he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee.
12 As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance.
13 They lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
14 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." It happened that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.
16 He fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus answered, "Weren't the ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
18 Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this stranger?"
19 Then he said to him, "Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you."
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The Kingdom of God doesn't come with observation;
21 neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you."
22 He said to the disciples, "The days will come, when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23 They will tell you, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Don't go away, nor follow after them,
24 for as the lightning, when it flashes out of the one part under the sky, shines to the other part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.
25 But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man.
27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise, even as it happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all.
30 It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
31 In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back.
32 Remember Lot's wife!
33 Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.
34 I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. The one will be taken, and the other will be left.
35 There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken, and the other will be left."
36 {Some Greek manuscripts add: "Two will be in the field, the one taken, and the other left."}
37 They answering, asked him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the body is, there will the vultures also be gathered together."
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Luke 17
Commentary on Luke 17 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 17
Lu 17:1-10. Offenses—Faith—Humility.
1, 2. (See Mt 18:6, 7).
3, 4. (See on Mt 18:15-17; Mt 18:21, 22).
4. seven times—not a lower measure of the forgiving spirit than the "seventy times seven" enjoined on Peter, which was occasioned by his asking if he was to stop at seven times. "No," is the virtual answer, "though it come to seventy times that number, if only he ask forgiveness in sincerity."
5. Lord—(See on Lu 10:1).
increase our faith—moved by the difficulty of avoiding and forgiving "offenses." This is the only instance in which a spiritual operation upon their souls was solicited of Christ by the Twelve; but a kindred and higher prayer had been offered before, by one with far fewer opportunities. (See on Mr 9:24.)
6. sycamine—mulberry. (See on Mr 11:22-24.)
7-10. say unto him by and by—The "by and by" (or rather "directly") should be joined not to the saying but the going: "Go directly." The connection here is: "But when your faith has been so increased as both to avoid and forgive offenses, and do things impossible to all but faith, be not puffed up as though you had laid the Lord under any obligations to you."
9. I trow not—or, as we say, when much more is meant, "I should think not."
10. unprofitable—a word which, though usually denoting the opposite of profit, is here used simply in its negative sense. "We have not, as his servants, profited or benefited God at all." (Compare Job 22:2, 3; Ro 11:35.)
Lu 17:11-19. Ten Lepers Cleansed.
11-13. through the midst of Samaria and Galilee—probably on the confines of both.
12. stood afar off—(Compare Le 13:45, 46).
13. they lifted up—their common misery drawing these poor outcasts together (2Ki 7:3), nay, making them forget the fierce national antipathy of Jew and Samaritan [Trench].
Jesus, &c.—(Compare Mt 20:30-33). How quick a teacher is felt misery, even though as here the teaching may be soon forgotten!
14. show yourselves—as cleansed persons. (See on Mt 8:4.) Thus too would the Samaritan be taught that "salvation is of the Jews" (Joh 4:22).
as they went, were cleansed—In how many different ways were our Lord's cures wrought, and this different from all the rest.
17, 18. Were there not ten cleansed—rather, were not the ten cleansed? that is, the whole of them—an example (by the way) of Christ's omniscience [Bengel].
18. this stranger—"this alien" (literally, "of another race"). The language is that of wonder and admiration, as is expressly said of another exhibition of Gentile faith (Mt 8:10).
19. Arise—for he had "fallen down on his face at His feet" (Lu 17:16) and there lain prostrate.
faith made thee whole—not as the others, merely in body, but in that higher spiritual sense with which His constant language has so familiarized us.
Lu 17:20-37. Coming of the Kingdom of God and of the Son of Man.
20-25. when, &c.—To meet the erroneous views not only of the Pharisees, but of the disciples themselves, our Lord addresses both, announcing the coming of the kingdom under different aspects.
It cometh not with observation—with watching or lying in wait, as for something outwardly imposing and at once revealing itself.
21. Lo here! … lo there!—shut up within this or that sharply defined and visible geographical or ecclesiastical limit.
within you—is of an internal and spiritual character (as contrasted with their outside views of it). But it has its external side too.
22. The days—rather "Days."
will come—as in Lu 19:43, when, amidst calamities, &c., you will anxiously look for a deliverer, and deceivers will put themselves forward in this character.
one of the days of the Son of man—Himself again among them but for one day; as we say when all seems to be going wrong and the one person who could keep them right is removed [Neander in Stier, &c.]. "This is said to guard against the mistake of supposing that His visible presence would accompany the manifestation and establishment of His kingdom" [Webster and Wilkinson].
23. they shall say, See here … go not, &c.—a warning to all so-called expositors of prophecy and their followers, who cry, Lo there and see here, every time that war breaks out or revolutions occur.
24. as lightning … so … the Son of man—that is it will be as manifest. The Lord speaks here of His coming and manifestation in a prophetically indefinite manner, and in these preparatory words blends into one the distinctive epochs [Stier]. When the whole polity of the Jews, civil and ecclesiastical alike, was broken up at once, and its continuance rendered impossible by the destruction of Jerusalem, it became as manifest to all as the lightning of heaven that the kingdom of God had ceased to exist in its old, and had entered on a new and perfectly different form. So it may be again, ere its final and greatest change at the personal coming of Christ, and of which the words in their highest sense are alone true.
25. But first … suffer, &c.—This shows that the more immediate reference of Lu 17:23 is to an event soon to follow the death of Christ. It was designed to withdraw the attention of "His disciples" from the glare in which His foregoing words had invested the approaching establishment of His kingdom.
26-30. eat … married … planted—all the ordinary occupations and enjoyments of life. Though the antediluvian world and the cities of the plain were awfully wicked, it is not their wickedness, but their worldliness, their unbelief and indifference to the future, their unpreparedness, that is here held up as a warning. Note.—These recorded events of Old Testament history—denied or explained away nowadays by not a few—are referred to here as facts.
31-33. to take it away … Remember, &c.—a warning against that lingering reluctance to part with present treasures which induces some to remain in a burning house, in hopes of saving this and that precious article till consumed and buried in its ruins. The cases here supposed, though different, are similar.
32. Lot's wife—her "look back," for that is all that is said of her, and her recorded doom. Her heart was in Sodom still, and the "look" just said, "And must I bid it adieu?"
33. Whosoever, &c.—(See on Lu 9:23-27).
34. two in one bed—the prepared and unprepared mingled in closest intercourse together in the ordinary walks and fellowships of life, when the moment of severance arrives. Awful truth! realized before the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Christians found themselves forced by their Lord's directions (Lu 21:21) at once and for ever away from their old associates; but most of all when the second coming of Christ shall burst upon a heedless world.
37. Where—shall this occur?
Wheresoever, &c.—"As birds of prey scent out the carrion, so wherever is found a mass of incurable moral and spiritual corruption, there will be seen alighting the ministers of divine judgment," a proverbial saying terrifically verified at the destruction of Jerusalem, and many times since, though its most tremendous illustration will be at the world's final day.