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| Chapter 17 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ Then said He unto His disciples, "It is impossible but that offenses will come, but woe unto him through whom they come! 2 It were better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck and he cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to fall. 3 "Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, ‘I repent,’ thou shalt forgive him." 5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, "Increase our faith." 6 And the Lord said, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, ‘Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea,’ and it should obey you. 7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field, ‘Go and sit down to meat’? 8 But will you not rather say unto him, ‘Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink’? 9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not! 10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do.’" 11 ¶ And it came to pass as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 And when He saw them, He said unto them, "Go, show yourselves unto the priests." And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks; and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 There are none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." 19 And He said unto him, "Arise; go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole." 20 ¶ And when the Pharisees had demanded of Him when the Kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, "The Kingdom of God cometh not with outward show. 21 Neither shall they say, ’Lo, it is here!’ or ’Lo, it is there!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you." 22 And He said unto the disciples, "The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it. 23 And they shall say to you, ‘See, here!’ or ‘See, there!’ Go not after them, nor follow them. 24 For as the lightning that lighteneth one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in His day. 25 But first must He suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They 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. 28 "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 "Even thus shall it be in the Day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 In that Day, he that shall be upon the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. 35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left." 37 And they answered and said unto Him, "Where, Lord?" And He said unto them, "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." |
17:1 - 18:30 Instructions to the Disciples. Compare Matt 18:6ff; Mark 9:42 Luke records a collection of teachings for the disciples, often with warnings. Jesus knew that there was no way of stopping problems, offenses and stumbling blocks from occuring in a believers life in this world, but He did give very severe warning of not being the cause of the problem for another believer. v2 Millstone. The word used in Mark 9:42 indicates that it was the very large millstone turned by a donkey, not the small one used in a home. v4 "Seven times a day," if a person commits that number of offenses each day, the person receiving would be driven mad, yet Jesus said they must be willing to forgive if the person asks for forgiveness, even for that number of offenses, Eph 4:32. v5 The disciples could not accept that a person committing so many offenses should be forgiven, they asked for an increase in their faith. Jesus now tells a parable to show faith. The Mustard seed. The mustard seed is the smallest seed known of by the Jewish people at that time, compare Luke 13:19ff. Jesus is using the small seed as an example of power and ability of faith rather than how much faith. Jesus tells the disciples that they could have enough faith to just tell a tree to transplant itself and move into the sea. Jesus is saying that with faith nothing is impossible. v7-10 A believers service should be done without expecting praise, we can never say that God owes us anything. We must never say "I’ve done enough for God, now I will rest". In the parable Jesus is comparing a believer with a servant serving his master. Just as if you had a servant who has worked for you all day, you would still expect the servant to serve you, the master, with your food, then when the master is satisfied then the servant can relax. This was what the servant was expected to do, I delight to do your will Psalm 40:8. As such a believer should not expect thanks for doing his job. In the parable the servant has worked hard all day in the fields for his master, he returned, tired, hungry, needing rest. The master still expects the servant to serve his needs. This is the serving life of a believer, we serve God according to His will, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, always on call for the worship and serving of God. True believers never rest or retire until the Lord calls them home. This should be the attitude of the believer, we have been given a task by our Lord and should do it as a matter of course, not expecting thanks unless we did more than was asked of us, beyond the line of duty. v11-19 Healing of ten lepers. v11 Jesus now goes to Jerusalem, passing through Samaria and Galilee. Under the Jewish Law Lepers were not allowed to come near any other people. The lepers were therefore some distance away and had to call out to attract Jesus for help. Without approaching or doing anything to them Jesus just instructs them to go to the priest to be inspected and shown to be clear of Leprosy. The lepers now started out in faith as instructed, Luke recorded that "as they went, they were cleansed." If they had not faithfully obeyed Jesus they would not have been healed. v15-19 One leper, a despised Samaritan, on realizing he was healed, turned back to thank Jesus. Jesus asks where were the other nine who were healed, presumably they were Jewish as Jesus referred to the Samaritan, despised by the pious Jew, as a "stranger." Gratitude was much less than faith. v20-37 The coming of the New Kingdom. consider Luke 19:11ff. John the Baptist and Jesus had preached that the kingdom of God was about to appear. The Pharisees demanded that Jesus say when this will be, "if you are the Messiah you will know and set the kingdom up." The Pharisees thought that the Messiah would take over Israel, throw out the Roman controlling power. Jesus response with "The Kingdom of God comes not with outward show." The initial appearance of this kingdom would not initially be a political power or involve an obvious people movement because the kingdom will exist within the believing people. Jesus is indicating that this kingdom of God was already here, He had brought it with Him, it was now awaiting to be recognized. v22-24 "Days of the Son of Man," This was the phrase that the Jewish religious teachers used to describe the coming of the Messiah and the setting up of His kingdom. See Daniel 7:13,14. "You shall not see it," indicating that the Messiah’s arrival will not be immediate, there will be a long delay, but when it does come it will be like a flash of lightning, very visible but without warning, when it arrives all the people will know it had arrived. Therefore take no notice if some tell you ’See, here!’ or ’See, there!’ The arrival of the Messiah will be very obvious to all the world, not just in a small area. v25 This passage indicates that Jesus was referring to Himself, rejection and the coming death in Jerusalem was all part of the Messianic plan, but it will not happen until "His day," v24. v26-29 Before the Messiah comes there will be a delay, as with Noah, the warning message by Noah of the coming flood took place over many years before judgement took place. The people carried on with their normal activities of life, living without God and ignoring the warnings. Judgement took place when the servants of God were removed, Noah and Lot were taken away then God poured out His judgement. v30 "In that Day," - the people will still be seeking material possessions when the Messiah returns, Jesus said that the man on the flat roof would not have time to go down into his house to collect his valuables, or if working out in the fields, no time to go home, they would have to flee immediately. v32 Lot’s wife turned round to look back at her old life in the city they had just left, she was turned into salt. v34-36 These verses are showing peoples action at different times of the day, at night, early morning and in the fields during the day. The instance of the return of the Lord would occur at different times of day around the world. v37 The disciples ask what will happen to those who are taken. Many people at first think that Jesus was referring to the removal of the Believers, however, the word used for body suggests a corpse, compare Matt 24:28. The word eagle normally means vultures, this statement may actually be saying "look for the corpse, that is where the vultures will be." Possibly a reference to Armageddon Rev 16:14; Rev 19:17ff. Some translations have suggested that Jesus was talking about His dead body. |
Easy English Translation
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