1Then He said to the disciples, It is impossible but that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to him through whom they do come! 2It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. 5And the apostles said to the Lord, Give us more faith. 6So the Lord said, If you have faith as a mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you. 7But which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, Come, sit down to eat? 8But will he not rather say to him, Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink? 9Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 10So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do. 11Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12And as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! 14So when He saw them, He said to them, Go, show yourselves to the priests. And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17So Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? 19And He said to him, Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well. 20And when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21nor will they say, See here; or, See there; for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. 22And 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. 23And they will say to you, Look here; or, Look there. Do not go away nor follow. 24For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under the heavens, shines to the other part under the heavens, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25But first He must suffer many things and be rejected from this generation. 26And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30Even in the same way will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not return back. 32Remember Lot's wife. 33Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35Two will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36Two will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left. 37And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? And He said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 OFFENSES--FAITH--HUMILITY. (
Luke 17:1-
Luke 17:10)
(See
Matt 18:6-
Matt 18:7).
3 (See on
Matt 18:15-
Matt 18:17;
Matt 18:21-
Matt 18:22).
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
Luke 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
Mark 9:24.)
6 sycamine--mulberry. (See on
Mark 11:22-
Mark 11:24.)
7 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-
Job 22:3;
Rom 11:35.)
11 TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. (
Luke 17:11-
Luke 17:19)
through the midst of Samaria and Galilee--probably on the confines of both.
12 stood afar off--(Compare
Lev 13:45-
Lev 13:46).
13 they lifted up--their common misery drawing these poor outcasts together (
2Kgs 7:3), nay, making them forget the fierce national antipathy of Jew and Samaritan [TRENCH].
Jesus, &c.--(Compare
Matt 20:30-
Matt 20:33). 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
Matt 8:4.) Thus too would the Samaritan be taught that "salvation is of the Jews" (
John 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 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 (
Matt 8:10).
19 Arise--for he had "fallen down on his face at His feet" (
Luke 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.
20 COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND OF THE SON OF MAN. (Luke 17:20-37)
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
Luke 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
Luke 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 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 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
Luke 9:23-
Luke 9:27).
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 (
Luke 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.
