Luke 17 · WEB
Faith, Gratitude, and the Coming Kingdom
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
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He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!
2It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.
3Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.
4If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."
5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
6The Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
7But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down at the table,'
8and will not rather tell him, 'Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink'?
9Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not.
10Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.'"
11As he was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee.
12As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance.
13They lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
14When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." As they went, they were cleansed.
15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.
16He fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.
17Jesus answered, "Weren't the ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
18Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this stranger?"
19Then he said to him, "Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you."
20Being asked by the Pharisees when God's Kingdom would come, he answered them, "God's Kingdom doesn't come with observation;
21neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, God's Kingdom is within you."
22He 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.
23They will tell you, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Don't go away or follow after them,
24for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.
25But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26As it was in the days of Noah, even so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man.
27They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all.
30It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
31In that day, he who will be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back.
32Remember Lot's wife!
33Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.
34I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left.
35There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left."
37They, answering, asked him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together."
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Summary
Jesus teaches his disciples about avoiding causing others to stumble, the duty of forgiveness, the power of small faith, and the humble posture of servants. Ten lepers are cleansed, but only one — a Samaritan — returns to thank Jesus, prompting Jesus to commend his faith. The chapter ends with Jesus warning that God's Kingdom is already among them in his person, and that the day of the Son of Man will come suddenly, like the flood of Noah or the destruction of Sodom.
Themes
- Forgiveness and avoiding offense
- Faith, however small, in a great God
- Gratitude as the proper response to grace
- The hidden, present reality of God's Kingdom
- Sudden judgment and the return of the Son of Man
Key verses
- Luke 17:10 — “When you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.'”
- Luke 17:21 — “Neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, God's Kingdom is within you.”
- Luke 17:33 — “Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.”
- Luke 17:6 — “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.”
Context & background
Luke 17 continues Jesus' long journey toward Jerusalem (in modern Israel) along the border between Samaria (the central West Bank) and Galilee (northern Israel). Lepers were ritually unclean under Mosaic law and lived outside village life; showing oneself to the priest at the temple in Jerusalem was the legal step required for reentry into the community. Samaritans were a despised mixed-race group whose temple had stood on Mount Gerizim near modern Nablus, so the gratitude of the Samaritan leper highlights how outsiders often respond to Jesus more readily than insiders. Jesus' references to Noah, Lot, and Sodom (near the southern Dead Sea) frame the coming day of the Son of Man as a sudden, decisive divine intervention.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 5:1-14 — Naaman the Syrian, another foreigner cleansed of leprosy
- 2 Peter 3:3-10 — the sudden coming of the Day of the Lord
- Genesis 19:15-26 — Lot fleeing Sodom and his wife looking back
- Matthew 17:20 — faith like a mustard seed moving mountains
- Matthew 18:6-7 — parallel warning about causing little ones to stumble