Chapter 17 is made up of several sections and it’s not entirely clear how or if the sections go together.  They are separate vignettes and it’s also not clear if they occur chronologically or if Luke groups them for another purpose.  If we were to assign an overall title to the chapter, it would be “The Attitude of a Disciple” as Jesus instructs the disciples throughout the chapter as to how they should live.  The one story that occurs in the text – the healing of the ten lepers – reinforces Jesus’ instruction so it fits our title too.  The disciple of Jesus must center his world on the One he follows; serve his Savior by serving and loving others; and see the world through the lens of eternity and the assurance of Jesus’ return.

1-4
There is no way to know if this chapter is a continuation of Jesus’ teaching from Chapter 16.  If it is, then perhaps Jesus refers to the Pharisees (to whom the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus was targeted) with His admonition about tempting others and His words about working for God’s favor (in vss 5-10).

The first four verses of the chapter give two perspectives on sin.  First, Jesus warns about the danger of leading others into sin.  The ramifications of being the conduit of temptation are dire (He doesn’t outline what these are, but they’re presumably eternal).  It would be better to die a horrible death – have an enormous stone tied to our necks and be thrown into the sea – than to lead others into sin.  He specifically says little ones which could mean children (as it clearly does in Matt 18:6) but could also apply to new Christians (and really, to any Christian who can be led astray by our actions or words).  Jesus essentially says there’s nothing worse than to lead easily influenced people into sin.

It’s easy to assume Jesus refers to overt temptation.  What we picture is Satan in the garden telling Eve that her life will be so much better if she eats the fruit.  Either that or a bad guy at school telling someone, “Come on, everybody’s doing it!  No one will ever know!”  But we likely miss an important nuance to Jesus’ message if we stop there.  Temptation doesn’t only come through words.  It also occurs through actions.  When we live careless or selfish lives that impact weaker believers around us, we are likely guilty of tempting them to sin.  If others live halfhearted lives because of our example, we might wish we had drowned with a millstone around our neck.

How we’re supposed to approach sin – rather than tempting others into it – is to identify it, rebuke it, and forgive it.  Note the first admonition – we’re to be on our guard (Gal 6:1) so we don’t fall into sin when we’re confronted with it.  Secondly, we’re to rebuke sin when we see it.  If sin isn’t identified, there’s no repentance or forgiveness.  We’re to be compassionate and forgiving, but that doesn’t mean we gloss over sin and refuse to identify it and call it what it is.  Lastly, we’re to forgive if the one who sins against us repents. 

It’s interesting to consider the ‘if’ clause in the verse.  If he repents, forgive him.  It may be too simplistic to say this teaches that we don’t forgive without repentance (since this would imply that we carry a grudge until the person comes around), but if the person isn’t repentant there’s obviously no chance to directly communicate forgiveness to him.  Perhaps the way to think about it is that we can’t carry a grudge or remain bitter – since all bitterness is ultimately directed at a sovereign God – but we also can’t directly forgive without repentance.  We go to God with our bitterness and grudges, we go to the repentant sinner with forgiveness (and if he doesn’t repent, we just go to God).

Jesus goes on to teach that we forgive no matter how many times we’re sinned against.  If the person sins against us seven times and repents seven times, we’re to forgive seven times.  We’re ultimately to forgive the way God forgives us.  We’re to extend mercy the way God extends mercy to us (and remember the message of Chapter 14 – God rejoices over repentant sinners).  Just as we go to God repeatedly and ask forgiveness for our sins, we should forgive those who repeatedly come to us.

This is only possible for the disciple who fully appreciates the forgiveness he’s received from his Savior.  It’s the one who understands the gospel and what was bought for him at the cross who can forgive as God forgives.  This is so counter to our natural response and so counter to what the world tells us (fight for our rights, stand up for ourselves, don’t allow others to walk on us, etc.) that it’s only possible for a Spirit-led life filled with awe over his own forgiveness.

That said, it’s important to remember that repentance carries with it a sense of genuine sorrow for the sin and a desire to turn from it.  If the person comes to us with no sorrow and no intention of turning away from what they’ve done, then they aren’t coming to us in repentance. 

5-10
The disciples hear Jesus’ words on forgiveness and immediately ask for help.  If this is the standard – repeatedly forgiving beyond what any normal human would do if left to himself – then they need more faith.  This is a big ask and they need more help if they’re going to live up to this.

Jesus gives an unexpected answer.  Instead of telling them that He’ll enlarge their faith so they can measure up, He says they don’t need more faith, they just need effective faith in a big God.  He cites the mustard seed – a tiny seed that grows into a large plant – and says they need faith like that.  Just a little bit of faith – the kind of faith we all can have through the Spirit’s help no matter where we are in our journey as a disciple – can do amazing things because of who that faith is in.

There is a warning that comes with this kind of faith.  Faith that moves mountains or large trees can puff us up and make us think we deserve something from God because of our obedience.  But just like a slave is never owed anything by his master, so we are never owed anything by God.  We don’t earn God’s favor with our righteous acts (this is how the Pharisees and Job’s three friends think – it’s also the lesson of the older brother in The Prodigal Son) and He’s never in our debt.  There’s no quid pro quo – we don’t deserve good things because we do good things.  We NEVER warrant God’s grace.  The good news is that the reverse is also true; we don’t earn bad things on our bad days.  We are in a relationship, not a business arrangement (and not a religion).  In either case, we’re unworthy slaves (meaning God doesn’t gain anything from our actions) who owe everything to our Creator’s grace and mercy.

11-19
As Jesus and the disciples travel to Jerusalem, they go along the border of both Galilee and Samaria (Samaria borders Galilee on the south).  As they enter a certain (unnamed) village, ten lepers cry out to Jesus (they must stand at a distance by law, so they yell to get His attention) and ask for mercy (it’s understood that this means healing – they apparently know who Jesus is and what He’s capable of).  Jesus doesn’t specifically heal them; He instead tells them to present themselves to the priest.  Under the Law, a leper who becomes free of the disease must be cleared by a priest before he/she can rejoin society.  By telling them to present themselves to the priest, Jesus asks them to step out in faith since they still have leprosy as they begin to go.  All ten do in fact take the step of faith and all are rewarded with healing on their way to the priest.

One of the ten lepers turns back and comes to Jesus and falls at His feet and gives thanks and worships Him.  The other nine do not come back.  The one who thanks Jesus is a Samaritan (and remember, the Jews hate the Samaritans).

Jesus expresses astonishment that only one of the ten returns and glorifies God for his healing (note that Jesus doesn’t say they should’ve given glory to Him – they didn’t come back and glorify God).  He says it’s amazing that this foreigner is the only one.

He then tells the Samaritan that his faith has made him well.  Since the man is already healed – and shares that in common with the other nine former lepers – this likely means more than physical healing.  Jesus seems to say that the man has received salvation. 

What differentiates the Samaritan from the other nine lepers is his appreciation of the Giver, not just the gift.  The other nine stepped out in faith, but they have no gratitude and thus don’t respond to Jesus.  Their lives are ultimately about them, not the One who healed them.  They worship themselves and this life, while the Samaritan worships his Redeemer.  Thus the Samaritan goes away justified, while the nine received healing but not redemption.

20-37
The Pharisees (who are now – still? – on the scene) have apparently heard Jesus repeatedly refer to the kingdom of God and so ask Him when it is coming.  He tells them that it won’t come with signs and heralds because it’s already here.  Jesus Himself has inaugurated the kingdom by coming to earth.  For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.

This speaks to the ‘already but not yet’ principle that’s present throughout the gospels.  Jesus inaugurates the kingdom of God on earth but that obviously doesn’t mean the world is free of sin and God’s rule is fully realized.  By coming to earth and dying, Jesus conquers sin and death and frees His followers from their tyranny.  That’s what it means that the kingdom of God has come.  What hasn’t happened yet, however, is the removal of sin and its influence from the world.  That will take place when Jesus comes again.

That second coming is what Jesus discusses throughout the remainder of the chapter.  He begins by telling them that things will progress in the world such that they will long for Him to come, but they will have to wait.  Since they’ll be longing for Him, they might be tempted by those who say, “Look there!  Look here!” as if Jesus has come and some have missed it.  They must not be misled.  There will be nothing secret about His return.  His return will be like lightning in the sky; visible to everyone.

Verse 22 brings up a vital question: do we long for His return?  Do we look at the world around us and think, “Oh please come quickly Lord Jesus!”  Or are we so enamored with the rewards of the world that the next life rarely enters our thinking?  Jesus discusses His followers longing for Him as a given.  If it’s not true of us, we should examine ourselves to make sure we’re truly His and that we haven’t become complacently accepting of a fallen world.

Jesus reminds the disciples (not for the first time) that He first must suffer and die, but what’s understood is that He’ll overcome the grave and then come in triumph at the end of the age.

The vast majority of people will not expect Him.  It will be like the times of Noah and Lot.  People will be buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, planting, building, eating, drinking, doing all the things that make up normal life with no thought of accountability or coming judgment.  It will be during the mundane times of life that Jesus comes back.  Only those who live for something more than this world will be prepared.  Only those who live with a sense of urgency and with eternal priorities will be ready.  Those who long for the world – who turn back like Lot’s wife or who long for worldly goods (they want to run in the house to grab something that is valuable to them) – will be judged and lost. 

[It’s interesting that in a somewhat parallel passage in Matthew 24, Jesus uses some of the same language to describe the coming destruction of Jerusalem.  Here He seems to refer only to His second coming.  The words about not coming in from the field or not going in the house are used somewhat differently in the Matthew passage.]

Jesus says that when the day comes, two will be sleeping in the same bed and one will be taken while the other isn’t.  Or two will be working together, and one will be taken while the other isn’t.  It isn’t entirely clear what He means by this.  It could be a reference to the living being caught up with Christ on His return (I Thess 4:17), but it could also mean the opposite – those who are ‘taken’ are the ones who are judged.  Either way, the message is the importance of readiness and that the dividing line of those who are and those who aren’t will likely surprise everyone (on both sides) and be no respecter of any relationship, however close.

Jesus sums up His admonition to readiness by saying, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”  The disciple who gives his life to Jesus and takes the approach that “…it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal 2:20) is the one who will keep his life.  The one who refuses to yield his life to Jesus because he thinks this world and this life are everything will lose his life in eternity.

This means the follower of Jesus has a responsibility to live prepared.  We aren’t to be so grounded in this life that we never think of the next one.  We aren’t to live the same way as those whose entire hope is in this life and world.  As Paul says in I Thess 5:1-11, we’re to live as children of light who expect the light, not as children of the darkness who are surprised by the light.  We’re not to sleep, we’re to be awake and aware.  And we’re to encourage each other with thoughts of the next life and Jesus’ imminent return.

The disciples ask Jesus where this will happen.  This is such an interesting question because we’d expect them to ask ‘when’, not where.  Perhaps they want to know where on earth Jesus will return and where judgment will take place.  Jesus responds with a proverb: “Where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered.”  No one really knows what this means.  He may mean that judgment follows sinners or that His return will be very visible.  Or perhaps He just wants to change the subject and so uses a random proverb that really confuses everyone (which means we can use it that way too). 

Q:   Where were you last night?
A:   Where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered.

The Attitude of a Disciple
Live with an eye on those we may influence.
Forgive like our heavenly Father forgives.
Adopt the posture of a servant, not an employee.
Worship the Giver, not His gifts.
Long for, prepare for, watch for the return of Jesus.