2BeLikeChrist Bible Commentary - Luke Chapter 17
Commentary - Luke Chapter 17
Luke 17:1-2
Luk 17:1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
Luk 17:2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
Satan was and is at work in the world, and temptation is inevitable so long as God allows Satan to exist.
Satan wants to pull people away from God.
His tactic? Tempting people to find satisfaction in something other than God.
Sometimes Satan works through people to tempt other people.
Examples:
A friend peer pressures you to lie to get out of trouble.
Someone dresses in a way meant to induce lust in onlookers.
A co-worker encourages a peer to skip family time to get a promotion.
Jesus strongly condemned those who led others into sin.
He probably had the Pharisees, scribes, lawyers, and Sadducees in mind when He said this.
The common Jews looked to those men for spiritual advise.
Like little ones (little children) needing guiding from a parent.
But they were steering them in the wrong direction, dragging them down into their own base sins.
Jesus’ language was extreme!
He told them it would be better for them to be dead than to continue coaxing others to participate in their sins.
“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea…”
The language is shocking, but it makes complete sense.
It is better for one person to die and go to hell, than for that person to stay alive long enough to help other people go to hell.
A millstone is a heavy cut stone used to grind wheat at the mill.
APPLICATION:
Is my influence a temptation to others?
Do I help the devil tempt people?
Let’s make our influence an oasis for people.
A place where it’s easy to do the right thing.
Luke 17:3-4
Luk 17:3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
Luk 17:4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
We all need to pay attention to ourselves, so we don’t lead others into sin.
It isn’t hard to offend people when we aren’t careful about our words and actions.
A loose tongue is the enemy of good influence.
If we want to represent Christ well, we need to be giving constant thought to the way we interact with people.
The Christian life isn’t a reckless life, it’s a considerate and contemplative life.
It’s not surprising the Bible condemns drunkenness.
When you are drunk, you do things you otherwise wouldn’t, and say things a clearheaded mind wouldn’t.
In a way, it’s the extreme opposite of what Jesus was calling for in verse 3.
I noticed something in verse 3 I had never noticed before, both forgiving and rebuking are commanded.
Forgiveness is an often-discussed Christian virtue and we will discuss it in just a moment, but we can’t skip over the first part of Jesus’ statement.
Just as clearly as Jesus told His disciples to forgive, He also told them to rebuke.
Jesus’ disciples were to rebuke sin when they saw it in the lives of their brothers.
We don’t emphasize the necessity of this nearly as much as we emphasize forgiveness.
I’ll be the first to admit, I fail at this sometimes.
Sometimes I laugh off sin in the lives of others because it’s uncomfortable to confront it.
Or I pretend not to notice things.
But rebuking sin in someone’s life is just as loving as extending forgiveness.
A person shows no love for the soul of another when they pretend everything is alright and it’s not.
We must rebuke, but when the rebuke is done and forgiveness is sought, we must forgive.
Forgiveness can be just as hard, if not harder than rebuking.
A mature disciple will be able to do both.
They will rebuke in the hope that their rebuke will prick the heart of the sinner.
They will freely forgive when the sin is put away and rejoice at the restoration of their brother.
They will rebuke because they know they must.
They will forgive because they love nothing better.
A less mature disciple will often fail on one end of the spectrum.
They might fail to rebuke because they view it as unloving or maybe they don’t really care that much about the condition of the sinful brother.
Or, they might avoid rebuking all together by justifying the sin in their brother’s life, eliminating the need to rebuke anyone.
Or, they might love rebuking others in their self-righteousness and get no joy at all from forgiveness.
The mature Christian is balanced in rebuking and forgiving.
Jesus didn’t want His disciples pursuing vengeance against other disciples who wronged them, even those who wronged them repeatedly.
He taught them to leave their hearts open to repeated forgiveness.
How many times are we supposed to forgive?
Jesus’ answer: 7 times a day.
I don’t think He meant this literally.
I think He was saying, “Forgive your brother as many times as he comes to you. Even if it’s more times than you think is acceptable.”
To someone who doesn’t know Christ, this command might seem outrageous.
Certainly, no one should have to forgive that many times!
Right?
But for those of us who know Jesus, know of His sacrifice on the cross, know the good news of the gospel, and know our own sinfulness, this command makes perfect sense.
How many times have we had to ask God for forgiveness?
Sometimes multiple times a day, right?
We wouldn’t ever want God to say, “Nope, not forgiving you anymore. You’ve used up all your grace.”
Why would we do that to a brother who comes to us for forgiveness?
If the idea of being told you MUST (verse 4) forgive someone is offensive to you, you need to spend more time meditating on Jesus’ sacrifice.
When you realize how much you’ve been forgiven, you’ll love forgiving other people.
Luke 17:5-6
Luk 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Forgiveness is no easy task and the Apostles recognized they were going to need help if they were going to live out Jesus’ instructions.
They asked Jesus for an increase in faith.
Jesus’ response was interesting.
Jesus seemed to think quality was a better metric for faith than quantity.
The Apostles though they needed more faith.
But Jesus told them genuine faith was so powerful all they needed was a mustard seed worth to perform wonders.
Mustard seeds are tiny.
Faith is trust in the power of God.
So, it isn’t an issue of the quantity we accumulate, it’s an issue of the depth of our trust.
A person who has the genuine faith Jesus talked about can be used by God in powerful ways.
At the time this was written, God was empowering people with miraculous ability.
Although we don’t see that today, there is no question God still uses people of faith in great ways in His Kingdom.
Luke 17:7-10
Luk 17:7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?
Luk 17:8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?
Luk 17:9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?
Luk 17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
How should God’s servants think of themselves when they’ve done good work?
Perhaps they accomplished something great on account of their genuine faith and the power of God (verse 6).
How should they feel about themselves?
Accomplishment introduces a temptation to pride.
We like to look back at our work and admire what we’ve accomplished.
We want others to admire what we’ve accomplished.
We might want others to praise us.
This love of praise had taken hold of many in the Jewish religious community.
They did good deeds because men praised them for doing them.
They worshipped publicly because people honored them for their devotion.
I think they wanted and expected the Messiah to honor them for their religiosity.
But Jesus told His disciples not to think of themselves as worthy of honor.
He wanted them to think of themselves as servants in a great man’s house.
The master of a house doesn’t serve dinner to his servants just because they put in a hard day’s work in the field.
No, the servants are expected to continue serving until the day is over.
They serve the master dinner.
That is their job and they don’t merit some kind of special honor or praise fordoing their job.
It’s the expectation of a servant.
In the same way, disciples aren’t to walk around seeking praise and honor for their service to God.
Serving God is the only reasonable response when a person learns how much God has done for them.
God is the King and we are called to be His servants.
It is the expectation.
We shouldn’t have the attitude that God owes us or that men owe us recognition for our work.
As Jesus said, our attitude needs to be, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”
“We are only doing our job.”
What’s incredible is that God wants to honor us for serving Him.
He adopts us as His children.
He promises eternal reward to His faithful servants.
But those rewards are not earned.
They are the unmerited favor (grace) of God.
APPLICATION:
While we are here on earth, we need to remember we aren’t anything special.
And we shouldn’t be thinking about our service to God as a means of promoting ourselves.
Stay humble and let God deal with the promotions.
Luke 17:11-13
Luk 17:11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
Luk 17:12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
Luk 17:13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
On His way to Jerusalem, Jesus was met by 10 men with leprosy.
Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease).
Caused by a bacterial attack on the nerves.
The bacteria are slow acting, and some people can be infected for years without the telltale symptoms.
The bacteria cause skin deformity and nerve damage.
If untreated, leprosy will cause hand and/or foot paralysis.
Other injuries often occur due to lack of feeling in the extremities.
Fingers and toes are commonly lost.
Loss of vision and nasal deformity are also common with advanced Hansen’s.
Treatment for leprosy was developed in the 1940s (antibiotics).
According to the Law of Moses, a person diagnosed with leprosy was considered unclean and was not allowed to associate with their “clean” countrymen.
Lev 13:3 - and the priest shall examine the diseased area on the skin of his body. And if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a case of leprous disease. When the priest has examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean.
This explains why the lepers stood at a distance and called to Jesus for help.
Luke 17:14
Luk 17:14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
Jesus had compassion on the men and told them to make their way to the priests, implying they would be healed.
The Old Testament Law had rules regarding what was to take place when a leper was cleansed. It is to those rules Jesus was referring when He told them to show themselves to the priests.
Anyone healed of leprosy had to be verified by a priest.
You can read about the process in Leviticus 14.
Luke 17:15-19
Luk 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;
Luk 17:16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
Luk 17:18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
Luk 17:19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
After being healed, only 1 of the 10 men returned to Jesus to thank Him.
The singular man, a Samaritan, fell at Jesus’ feet and praised God.
*See 2BeLikeChrist’s video, Why did the Jews Hate the Samaritans, for a discussion of the relations of the Jews and Samaritans.
The Jews didn’t like the Samaritans.
They didn’t think highly of them at all.
For the most part, they spoke negatively about them.
But in this instance, Jesus was commending a Samaritan because he was the only one who expressed thankfulness for his healing.
Jesus seems to imply some of the other 9 were Jews.
Yet, only the Samaritan had returned.
He was the only one who had the right mindset.
This miracle was a great display of Jesus’ power over sickness, but it was also an important lesson for His Jewish disciples.
A lot of the Jews had the idea that they were right with God based on their bloodline.
Here Jesus revealed that it was the heart that mattered, not the genetics.
Sometimes the greatest examples of faith were to be found outside the Jewish community.
That would have been a shocking revelation to some Jews.
APPLICATION:
Pictures of godliness don’t always show up where we might expect them.
Sometimes the best teachers are the unexpected ones.
APPLICATION:
Godliness is not inherited or granted to a person because they were born with a particular pedigree.
A proper attitude towards God is cultivated in the heart of an individual.
APPLICATION:
When God blesses us, we should take time to thank Him.
This principle is very simple to understand but often neglected in practice.
Luke 17:20-21
Luk 17:20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,
Luk 17:21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Jesus talked a lot about the coming Kingdom of God.
But what was it?
As we’ve discussed, many of the Jews believed it was going to be a powerful worldly kingdom like those that came before it (Sumer, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, etc).
The Jews looked forward to the time when the Messiah would arrive and lead their nation to prominence.
At this point, Jesus had been preaching for almost 3 years but there were still no signs indicating He was raising up the next great world empire.
So, the Pharisees asked Him when the Kingdom of God would start.
Jesus told them their expectations about the Kingdom were misguided.
God’s Kingdom wasn’t coming with the usual observable features of a sprouting empire (a growing military, palaces, political buildings, capital cities, etc).
It wasn’t going to be built around or defended by physical power.
It wasn’t going to conquer using physical force.
What did Jesus mean by this?
God’s Kingdom, His reign, is a spiritual one.
God’s Kingdom doesn’t wage physical wars against earthly kings, it wages war on the spiritual powers of evil.
2Co 10:3-4 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
The citizens of God’s Kingdom, His disciples, aren’t citizens because they are born within a national border, but because they are God’s children.
It is a spiritual connection.
You might be able to look at a person and make a fairly accurate guess what country they are from.
That isn’t the case with Christians.
Glancing at someone can’t tell you if that person is a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven or not.
God doesn’t reign from an earthly capital city. He reigns in heaven (which is unobservable to us).
“…the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
God reigns in men and women’s hearts.
The heart of a disciple acknowledges that God is king.
Of course, when a person acknowledges God is king, they give their loyalty and service to the king.
This is why the Bible talks about Christians as servants, we serve the King.
Like a loyal subject in a medieval movie, we give allegiance to God.
The connection between all of the citizens of the Kingdom of God across the world is their heart’s allegiance.
No matter what ethnicity you are, no matter what country you were born in, you can be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven if your heart belongs to God.
Luke 17:22-24
Luk 17:22 And 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.
Luk 17:23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them.
Luk 17:24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
Turning away from the Pharisees and to His disciples, Jesus told them a day would come when they would long to see Him again.
He was going to be leaving them.
And in the future, when the challenges of being a disciple would become more difficult, some of them would long for His return.
They would want to see Him again and talk to Him face-to-face as they had before.
But Jesus warned them not to believe every story about His return.
In their anxiousness to see Jesus again they could become susceptible to believing fake news.
After Jesus’ departure, there would be false messiahs and people who spread false reports.
The disciples were not to believe every rumor.
Jesus’ return (the coming of the Son of Man) would not be subtle.
The disciples weren’t going to have to hear secondhand news of His arrival.
People weren’t going to have to point it out to them.
Jesus’ arrival, at the end of time, will be as noticeable as a streak of lightning that shoots from one end of the sky to the other.
Imagine how bright that would be.
Especially in a time when electric lights didn’t exist.
Enormous bolts of lightning are anything but subtle. They are visible to everyone.
Not to mention the huge crack of thunder that follows them.
Paul’s description of Jesus’ second coming at the end of time aligns with this portrayal.
He told the Thessalonian Church Jesus would return with a trumpet sound and a “cry of command.”
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Luke 17:25
Luk 17:25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
Before the Son of Man could return like a bolt of lightning, He had to suffer and be rejected by the people in His community.
Jesus was talking about His upcoming death on the cross.
Luke 17:26-30
Luk 17:26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
Luk 17:27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
Luk 17:29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—
Luk 17:30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
To understand Jesus’ point in this section we need to have some familiarity with the Old Testament.
The story of Noah, the Ark, and the Flood can be read in Genesis 6-9.
The world was so wicked that God decided to destroy its inhabitants with a worldwide flood.
Noah was commanded by God to build an ark to save his family and a select number of animals.
While building the ark, everyone else on earth continued about their usual sinful business.
On a day like any other, Noah entered the Ark and rain started pouring down from heaven, taking everyone by surprise.
Next, to emphasize the same principle, Jesus alluded to the story of Lot and the destruction of the city of Sodom.
Gen 13:13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah must have been especially sinful places because God told Abraham he was going to destroy them.
God planned to rain fire and sulfur (some translations say brimstone) down on them and burn them to the ground.
God told a righteous man named Lot to escape the city before the destruction.
On the day Lot fled, God’s wrath poured down on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Gen 19:24-25 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
The people of the city were not given a warning.
Their judgement came swiftly and on a day like any other.
Jesus’ return is going to be unexpected.
People are going to be going about their everyday business when He arrives.
That day will be a welcome surprise for Jesus’ disciples.
But it will be a terrible day for people living in sin. They will be as surprised and horrified as the people living in Sodom and those who drown in the flood.
APPLICATION:
Given the unexpected nature of Jesus’ return, we need to make sure we are always ready.
We can’t let our guards down.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
APPLICATION:
Given the unexpected nature of Jesus’ return, we need to be continually busy finding ways to warn people who aren’t part of God’s Kingdom.
There should be a sense of urgency.
Luke 17:31
Luk 17:31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.
The language in this verse initially gave me a significant amount of trouble when I first encountered its parallel passage in Matthew.
In Matthew 24:17-18, this same language appears in a discussion about the destruction of Jerusalem.
In that context, the verse is a bit easier to understand.
The Romans were coming to destroy Jerusalem.
The Christians needed to get out of the city as quickly as possible.
But how do we understand this language in Luke 17?
Why would someone try to return to their house to grab physical possessions when Jesus comes back?
I believe, Jesus intended His audience to understand the wider principle behind the words rather than to take them literally.
He was communicating a principle of preparedness.
He was compounding the principle of Sodom and the Flood.
Judgement will be unexpected, and you aren’t going to have a chance to do the things you neglected when it arrives.
There will be no time for turning back.
At that point, it will be too late.
The disciples of the 1st Century, as well as the 21st Century, need to be in a constant state of readiness.
They need to be alert, ready, and sober-minded.
Ready at any moment for the Lord’s return.
Being caught off guard can cost you your soul.
Luke 17:32
Luk 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.
When Lot and his family fled Sodom, they were told not to look back at the city as the fire and sulfur destroyed it.
Gen 19:17 And as they brought them out, one [angel] said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
Gen 19:26 But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Why did she look back?
The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly, but Jesus’ use of her as an example may help us understand.
She must have had some lingering affection for her former life in that wicked place.
Or a curiosity so strong she was willing to risk breaking God’s law to indulge it.
That is a dangerous game.
That mistake probably cost her soul.
APPLICATION:
Christians sometimes play that game.
Take a risk hoping Jesus won’t show up.
Why?
Because they have some lingering affection for the world.
Or they have some strong curiosity they are willing to risk breaking God’s Law to indulge.
It’s a dangerous game.
Jesus was stressing constant preparedness because it’s really easy to let our guard down and start falling in love with the things of the world.
Luke 17:33
Luk 17:33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Jesus already made this statement almost word-for-word in Luke 9:24.
Refer back to those notes for additional discussion.
Any man who tries to “preserve his life” will end up losing it.
Men desperately try to preserve their own lives.
Because when a person lives for this life and the things this life offers, death is the worst possible thing.
The problem with that way of living is that no one has ever succeeded.
Everyone dies!
At death a person loses everything.
What’s worse, is that a person who lives for the things of the earth will lose their soul in eternity.
It’s a lose-lose strategy.
On the flipside, anyone who loses (gives up/surrenders) their life on earth to serve God in His Kingdom, their life will be saved after death.
They will be rewarded by God with an even better life.
They will have eternal life.
The only way to preserve life past death is to devote your life on earth to God, instead of to yourself.
You don’t have any power to save yourself after death.
God does!
Luke 17:34-35
Luk 17:34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.
Luk 17:35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”
People will be going about their everyday business on “that day” (Jesus’ return).
Faithful disciples will meet Jesus in the air according to 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
1Th 4:17 - Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The faithful will be taken up out of the world, one from a bed, one from a field, one from an office, one from the high school, one from the mill, and will be brought up to meet the Lord.
Luke 17:37
Luk 17:37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
This phrase is also used in Matthew 24:28.
As you may have already observed, Jesus used several phrases in Luke 17 that are also in Matthew 24.
There is no doubt some of these verses can be tough to understand.
When trying to interpret them, it’s important to compare and contrast Luke 17, Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.
Understanding the context of each of those passages is essential for coming up with a viable interpretation.
Back to verse 37.
The disciples asked Jesus where the things He was describing were going to take place.
Jesus responded with a statement about vultures.
“Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
What did that have to do with the disciple’s question?
Many suggest the statement about vultures was a cultural proverb of Jesus’ day.
The proverb was meant to communicate the idea that “when the conditions were right, the thing would come to pass.”
Vultures will circle a wounded animal waiting for their meal.
When the conditions are right (aka the animal finally dies) they come to eat at the corpse.
Spiritually speaking, when the conditions are right, the Lord will fulfill His plans.
The disciples didn’t really know what they were asking when they asked, “Where, Lord?”
When Jesus returns, everyone on earth will be aware.
It will be a universal appearance.
So, the question of “where” isn’t really relevant.
It was not so much a question of “where” but “when.”
Jesus will return to judge the world when the conditions are right and when God has accomplished all He wants to accomplish on earth.
