Luke 17 bible study

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The Gospel of Luke Chapter 17:1-37 Stumbling Blocks 17:1 Jesus said to his disciples, "Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

Jesus knew that human nature was sinful, and that the world was a difficult place to live; so he warns the disciples that ‘stumbling blocks’, things which would hinder their faith, would be sure to come. For Jesus, it is not so bad to stumble as it is to cause others to stumble. He says how terrible it will be God’s judgment on those one who are the source of such stumbling blocks.

17:2 It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

Being thrown into the sea with a heavy stone tied around one’s neck is the analogy Jesus uses to describe how serious this matter is – that anyone should try to undermine and destroy the faith of any believer.

17:3 Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.

Jesus does not say look out for others – it is yourself you must watch, for ‘walking the walk’ yourself this is the best way of helping others ‘walk the walk’ (1 Tim. 4:12, 16). Do not unnecessarily cause offence (1 Cor. 10:32). When another believer sins against you by deliberately causing trouble, open rebuke is better than hidden love – reproof and forgiveness are better than holding a grudge.

17:4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Again Jesus emphasizes the weakness of human nature and indicates the way we must cope with it as Christians. Indeed our brother may sin seven times a day, but even his sinfulness is great, our forgiveness is to be just as great. Jesus is arguing here for great patience for believers which will help them grow into what God wants them to be. No matter how many times a brother apologizes and asks for forgiveness we must be ready to forgive him (Eph. 4:31-32).

Faith and Duty 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

The disciples were at times conscious of their lack of faith; he had often referred to them as ‘you of little faith (Matt. 8:26; 16:8). They asked Jesus to strengthen and increase their faith.

17:6 So the Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, 'Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Yet Jesus tells them how much can be accomplished even with a small amount of faith, if only they would step out and use it. Just as a small mustard seed grows to produce a large tree, so even a little faith can accomplish great things. But such faith must be put into practice. Pointing to a nearby tree, Jesus insists that if the disciples purposed to, they could command the tree to be pulled up and cast into the sea and it would happen. This statement seems so hyperbole as to be ludicrous, but in reality, there are things just as impossible—albeit less spectacular—which faith produces every day.

17:7-9 "Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, 'Come at once and sit down for a meal'? Won't the master instead say to him, 'Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink'? He won't thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he?

Jesus turns his disciples’ attention at once from faith to practical service—which is an expression of faith. Anyone can say I have faith, but is that faith demonstrated by dedication and commitment to what one does in the service of God (James 2:18). Jesus asks whether a landowner would ask his hard working servant to come and sit down to eat after he had served him with hard work all day?

Of course not, he was only a servant. Instead the master would tell his servant to prepare supper and to serve him first before he could go and have his own food. The master of that servant would not thank him for obeying orders.

17:10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, 'We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.' "

On one level, such is our relationship to God. Yes, he is our father who loves us and blesses us with all blessings. But in terms of our service, he is our Lord—it is his to command and ours to obey, and having done all that he commands, we are to remember that this is exactly what should be expected of us. So when we have done all the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us we should say (NLT) "we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty" (Romans 12:1).

Giving Thanks 17:11-13 Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, raised their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

On one occasion as Jesus journeyed through Galilee and Samaria on his way to Jerusalem, he entered a village where ten men with leprosy cried out to him from a distance, pleading with him to have mercy upon them.

17:14 When he saw them he said, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went along, they were cleansed.

On this occasion, Jesus did not say anything like ‘you are healed your faith as made you whole’, but rather told the men to keep the requirement of Mosaic Law for those who had been cleansed from leprosy—‘go, and show yourselves to the priests’ (Leviticus 14:1- 4). Even though the leprosy was still on them they believed Jesus could heal them and acted obediently—as they did so they were healed.

17:15-16 Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus' feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.)

One of the ten men, when he saw that he had been healed, (perhaps before he ever got as far as the priest) went back to Jesus praising God out loud. Falling down on his face at the feet of Jesus he gave thanks for what he had done for him. This man was a Samaritan.

17:17-18 Then Jesus said, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?

Jesus drew the crowd’s attention to the fact that although all ten lepers were healed, only one of them—a foreigner—had returned to give thanks to God. In doing this, Jesus is holding him up as an example—all those whom God delivers should be as thankful as him. His public testimony also shows that there are no barriers to our receiving from Jesus. The man had been excluded from the community because of his race and because of his disability, but he was not excluded from the grace of God. 17:19 Then he said to the man, "Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well."

It was through faith that the man had been healed. Later it would be through faith that many nonJews would be welcomed into the kingdom (Eph. 2:13-14). Jesus let the man go, free from leprosy and exclusion, that his life might worship God. This account serves to balance the view Jesus gave us of serving God in the earlier parable. It is not slavish bondage but the gratitude we have for what God has done for us that leads to lives of service.

Christ's Impending Return 17:20-21 Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst."

When questioned by the Pharisees, Jesus declared that initially the coming of the Kingdom of God would not be visible to the eye, nor situated in a specific geographic location – here or there. Instead the Kingdom of God would be inaugurated within the hearts of people. To be a subject of the Kingdom of God is to have God reigning as king in your life.

17:22 Then he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

However, Jesus’ view of the Kingdom of God does not end there. Speaking privately to his disciples, Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God in terms of his coming back to earth to reign as King, revealing details of what will happen in the last days before his return. Those days will be marked by such

excessive self-indulgence, moral decay and religious persecution that the disciples would long to see his return, but Jesus insists that this will not happen immediately.

17:23-24 Then people will say to you, 'Look, there he is!' or 'Look, here he is!' Do not go out or chase after them. For just like the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

Before Christ’s coming, many false prophets will claim that Jesus Christ has come again, or predict the day and place where he will appear. Jesus warns us not be taken in by these or follow them, for he is not coming to a particular place. His return will neither be private nor localized; for it will be witnessed by all humanity simultaneously, as lightening flash lightens the whole horizon (Rev. 1:7).

17:25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

The Lord Jesus Christ understood that before his coming in glory he was to suffer rejection by his own people through cruel scourging, mocking and crucifixion. Although his death would be the means of our salvation, it would also be indicative of the condition of human hearts against God. 17:26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.

As the time of his coming again approached, this rejection of God would become clearly and globally seen, as it was in the days before the flood. Although Jesus does not explicitly refer to the fact, the scripture records that the days prior to the flood were characterized by wickedness on an unprecedented scale, and violence filled the earth (Gen. 6:5, 11-13).

17:27-29 People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage — right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

Although God had pronounced his sentence against humanity (Gen. 6:13), he patiently waited before carrying it out, as Noah, a preacher of righteousness, continually warned the people of the coming judgment. Despite the wickedness of their lives they carried on with the everyday business, giving no heed to the warnings of the prophet. That is why, for them, the flood came suddenly and unexpectedly; only Noah and his family were ready for it.

It was exactly the same in the days of Lot, when the townsfolk of Sodom and Gomorrah—who are depicted as a community as engaging in foul acts of sexual violence—nevertheless continued their daily business, planting crops and building houses. Jesus’ emphasis is not so much on their wickedness—those who knew the scriptures would not need him to spell that out, it was implied by the very mention of the name Sodom. Instead Jesus again emphasizes the way in which they ignored God’s prophet and carried on as normal. This arrangement could not last, and the moment that Lot and his family left Sodom, God poured out his judgment on both cities and destroyed them and all the people living in them with fire and brimstone from heaven.

17:30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

Remember that Jesus has been speaking of his universal unveiling to the world (v. 24). This event will come unexpectedly to bring judgment upon those who had refused to take warning (Rev.22:12).

It does not seem feasible to me that, having spoken of his return to the earth in great power and glory, Jesus should here be referring here to the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70, as this event could in no way be described as a return of Jesus. So unlike similar parts of Matthew’s account, it seems more likely that here Luke is dealing here with events yet to happen.

17:31-33 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot's wife!

Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

In that day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes it will be no use anyone worrying about their possessions or fleeing for their lives—there will be no escape from judgment. Look what happened to Lot's wife because she looked back, being so attached to her earthly home. Here is a call to abandon giving first place in our lives to worldly possessions and instead to follow Jesus. Everything in this world shall pass away, including our lives, and so it would be unwise to live for them alone. In contrast the life which we receive in Jesus’ eternal kingdom will never pass away.

17:34-36 I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."

The difficult verses are often interpreted as a reference to the event in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 where living believers are caught up to meet the Lord (an event which has been termed ‘the Rapture’).

From verse 33 to 36 there is a distinction made between the faithful and unfaithful, and if the Thessalonian connection is right, then it would appear that the ones taken away are believers, who are taken to safety (as Noah was taken into the Ark, and Lot taken by the angel to the mountains).

Those left behind were the unrepentant and unbelieving, who had to face God’s wrath.

17:37 Then the disciples said to him, "Where, Lord?" He replied to them, "Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather."

We cannot be sure what exactly the disciples meant by their question ‘Where, Lord?’ Jesus answer makes most sense if the question meant ‘where are the wicked to be left?’ rather than ‘where are the righteous to be taken?’ or ‘where (geographically) will all this occur?’ ‘Where there are dead bodies left unburied the vultures will gather to eat the carcasses’ could be taken as a geographic reference to the location of the great battle between sinful people and God in Rev. 19:17-21, or it could generally represent the fact that since the unrepentant are dead in sin, so judgment will inevitably feed on them. © Derek Williams & Mathew Bartlett 2015 Bible Studies Online UK www.biblestudiesonline.org.uk You may copy, print or distribute our studies freely in any form, just so long as you make no charges. Sign up today for our FREE monthly Bible study magazine “Living Word” Scriptures taken from the NET Bible www.bible.org