1 And he said to his disciples, It is necessary for causes of trouble to come about, but unhappy is he by whom they come.
2 It would be well for him if a great stone was put round his neck and he was dropped into the sea, before he made trouble for any of these little ones.
3 Give attention to yourselves: if your brother does wrong, say a sharp word to him; and if he has sorrow for his sin, let him have forgiveness.
4 And if he does you wrong seven times in a day, and seven times comes to you and says, I have regret for what I have done; let him have forgiveness.
5 And the twelve said to the Lord, Make our faith greater.
6 And the Lord said, If your faith was only as great as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this tree, Be rooted up and planted in the sea; and it would be done.
7 But which of you, having a servant who is ploughing or keeping sheep, will say to him, when he comes in from the field, Come now and be seated and have a meal,
8 Will he not say, Get a meal for me, and make yourself ready and see to my needs till I have had my food and drink; and after that you may have yours?
9 Does he give praise to the servant because he did what was ordered?
10 In the same way, when you have done all the things which are given you to do, say, There is no profit in us, for we have only done what we were ordered to do.
11 And it came about that when they were on the way to Jerusalem he went through Samaria and Galilee.
12 And when he went into a certain small town he came across ten men who were lepers, and they, keeping themselves at a distance,
13 Said, in loud voices, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw them he said, Go, and let the priests see you. And, while they were going, they were made clean.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was clean, turning back, gave praise to God in a loud voice;
16 And, falling down on his face at the feet of Jesus, he gave the credit to him; and he was a man of Samaria.
17 And Jesus said, Were there not ten men who were made clean? where are the nine?
18 Have not any of them come back to give glory to God, but only this one from a strange land?
19 And he said to him, Get up, and go on your way; your faith has made you well.
20 And when the Pharisees put questions to him about when the kingdom of God would come, he gave them an answer and said, The kingdom of God will not come through observation:
21 And men will not say, See, it is here! or, There! for the kingdom of God is among you.
22 And he said to his disciples, The time will come when you will have a great desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, but you will not see it.
23 And if they say to you, See, it is there! or, It is here! do not go away, or go after them.
24 For as in a thunderstorm the bright light is seen from one end of the sky to the other, so will the Son of man be when his time comes.
25 But first, he will have to undergo much and be put on one side by this generation.
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the day of the Son of man.
27 They were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day of the overflowing of the waters, when Noah went into the ark, and they all came to destruction.
28 In the same way, in the days of Lot; they were feasting and trading, they were planting and building;
29 But on the day when Lot went out of Sodom, fire came down from heaven and destruction came on them all.
30 So will it be in the day of the revelation of the Son of man.
31 On that day, if anyone is on the roof of the house, and his goods are in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and let him who is in the field not go back to his house.
32 Keep in mind Lot's wife.
33 If anyone makes an attempt to keep his life, it will be taken from him, but if anyone gives up his life, he will keep it.
34 I say to you, In that night there will be two men sleeping in one bed, and one will be taken away and the other let go.
35 Two women will be crushing grain together; one will be taken away and the other let go.
36 []
37 And they, answering him, said, Where, Lord? And he said to them, Where the body is, there will the eagles come 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.