Luke 17
Ten lepers are cleansed and only one returns to give thanks; the disciples are told the kingdom will not come with signs to watch for.
Summary
The chapter's teaching on causes of stumbling is addressed first to the disciples: temptations to sin are inevitable, but woe to the one through whom they come; it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around one's neck. The duty to rebuke and to forgive is pressed in both directions: rebuke the brother who sins, and if he repents, forgive him — seven times in a day if needed. The apostles ask for increased faith; Jesus responds that faith the size of a mustard seed would command a mulberry tree to uproot and plant itself in the sea and it would obey. The parable of the unworthy servant follows: when a servant returns from field work, the master does not thank the servant for doing what was commanded. Neither should the disciples expect thanks for doing what was required — they are unworthy servants who have done only their duty.
The healing of the ten lepers is placed on the border between Samaria and Galilee — a liminal geographical location consistent with Luke's interest in boundary figures. The ten approach at a distance (as purity law required) and call out for mercy; Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priests; they are cleansed as they go. One returns, praises God in a loud voice, falls on his face at Jesus's feet and gives thanks. He is identified as a Samaritan. Jesus asks where the other nine are, and whether only the foreigner has returned to give glory to God — a pointed question in context. He tells the Samaritan his faith has saved him. The teaching on the kingdom's coming that closes the chapter is eschatological and resists chronological interpretation: the kingdom does not come with signs to observe, because the kingdom of God is already among them. When the Son of Man's day comes it will be like lightning flashing and covering the sky. The days of Noah and Lot serve as analogies: ordinary life was continuing until catastrophe came suddenly. Two people in one bed — one taken, one left. Two women grinding — one taken, one left. Where the corpse is, the vultures will gather. The lesson is consistently the same: the day's arrival will not be preceded by announcing signs.
- Luke 1Chapter 1 opens with a formal literary preface — Luke addresses a certain Theophilus and claims to have investigated everything carefully, setting himself apart as a self-conscious historian among the gospel writers.
- Luke 2Chapter 2 contains the nativity scene that dominates Western cultural memory of the gospels: the census under Quirinius, the journey to Bethlehem, the birth, the manger, the swaddling cloths, the angels appearing to shepherds in the fields at night.
- Luke 3Luke situates John's ministry with extraordinary chronological precision — the fifteenth year of Tiberius, the governorship of Pilate, the tetrarchies of Herod and Philip and Lysanias, the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.
- Luke 4The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for forty days, where the devil offers him bread, political authority over all the kingdoms of the world, and divine protection — and is refused at each turn with a quotation from Deuteronomy.
- Luke 5By the Lake of Gennesaret, the crowds press against Jesus and he steps into Simon's empty boat to teach.
- Luke 6The chapter opens with two Sabbath controversies: the disciples pluck grain as they walk through fields, and Jesus defends them by citing David's eating the showbread when his men were hungry.
- Luke 7Three distinct episodes give chapter 7 its range.
- Luke 8Chapter 8 moves quickly across a range of narrative modes.
- Luke 9Chapter 9 is a turning-point chapter.
- Luke 10Jesus sends out seventy (some manuscripts say seventy-two) in pairs ahead of him into every town and place he intends to visit, with instructions similar to the twelve's but addressed to a larger group and a longer journey.
- Luke 11The chapter opens with Jesus praying in a certain place; when he stops, a disciple asks him to teach them to pray as John taught his disciples.
- Luke 12With ten thousand pressing around him, Jesus addresses the disciples first: beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- Luke 13Some report to Jesus about Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
- Luke 14Jesus goes to eat at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees on the Sabbath, watched carefully by those present.
- Luke 15The Pharisees and scribes grumble that this man receives sinners and eats with them.
- Luke 16Chapter 16 contains two of Luke's most difficult parables.
- Luke 17The chapter opens with warnings about causing stumbling — better to have a millstone around your neck and be thrown into the sea — and the obligation to rebuke and forgive a brother who sins seven times in a day and repents each time.
- Luke 18Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow to teach that they ought always to pray and not lose heart: a widow in a city where a judge neither fears God nor respects people keeps coming to him demanding justice against her adversary; he eventually grants it not because of justice but because she is wearing him out.
- Luke 19Jericho contains the Zacchaeus scene, unique to Luke: a chief tax collector who is wealthy and short climbs a sycamore tree to see Jesus over the crowd.
- Luke 20Chapter 20 is a series of confrontations in the temple.
- Luke 21Looking up at those putting gifts into the treasury, Jesus observes that a poor widow puts in two small copper coins — the smallest unit of currency — and says she has put in more than all of them, because they gave from their abundance and she from her poverty gave everything she had.
- Luke 22Satan enters Judas Iscariot and he goes to the chief priests to discuss how to betray Jesus.
- Luke 23The assembly brings Jesus to Pilate, accusing him of perverting the nation, forbidding tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be king.
- Luke 24Very early on the first day of the week, the women — Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others — bring spices to the tomb and find the stone rolled away.