171 And he said to his disciples, It is necessary for causes of trouble to come about, but unhappy is he by whom they come. 2 It would be well for him if a great stone was put round his neck and he was dropped into the sea, before he made trouble for any of these little ones. 3 Give attention to yourselves: if your brother does wrong, say a sharp word to him; and if he has sorrow for his sin, let him have forgiveness. 4 And if he does you wrong seven times in a day, and seven times comes to you and says, I have regret for what I have done; let him have forgiveness.
5 And the twelve said to the Lord, Make our faith greater. 6 And the Lord said, If your faith was only as great as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this tree, Be rooted up and planted in the sea; and it would be done.
7 But which of you, having a servant who is ploughing or keeping sheep, will say to him, when he comes in from the field, Come now and be seated and have a meal, 8 Will he not say, Get a meal for me, and make yourself ready and see to my needs till I have had my food and drink; and after that you may have yours? 9 Does he give praise to the servant because he did what was ordered? 10 In the same way, when you have done all the things which are given you to do, say, There is no profit in us, for we have only done what we were ordered to do.
11 And it came about that when they were on the way to Jerusalem he went through Samaria and Galilee. 12 And when he went into a certain small town he came across ten men who were lepers, and they, keeping themselves at a distance, 13 Said, in loud voices, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them he said, Go, and let the priests see you. And, while they were going, they were made clean. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was clean, turning back, gave praise to God in a loud voice; 16 And, falling down on his face at the feet of Jesus, he gave the credit to him; and he was a man of Samaria. 17 And Jesus said, Were there not ten men who were made clean? where are the nine? 18 Have not any of them come back to give glory to God, but only this one from a strange land? 19 And he said to him, Get up, and go on your way; your faith has made you well.
20 And when the Pharisees put questions to him about when the kingdom of God would come, he gave them an answer and said, The kingdom of God will not come through observation: 21 And men will not say, See, it is here! or, There! for the kingdom of God is among you. 22 And he said to his disciples, The time will come when you will have a great desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, but you will not see it. 23 And if they say to you, See, it is there! or, It is here! do not go away, or go after them. 24 For as in a thunderstorm the bright light is seen from one end of the sky to the other, so will the Son of man be when his time comes. 25 But first, he will have to undergo much and be put on one side by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the day of the Son of man. 27 They were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day of the overflowing of the waters, when Noah went into the ark, and they all came to destruction. 28 In the same way, in the days of Lot; they were feasting and trading, they were planting and building;
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 17:1-28
Commentary on Luke 17:1-10
(Read Luke 17:1-10)
It is no abatement of their guilt by whom an offence comes, nor will it lessen their punishment that offences will come. Faith in God's pardoning mercy, will enable us to get over the greatest difficulties in the way of forgiving our brethren. As with God nothing is impossible, so all things are possible to him that can believe. Our Lord showed his disciples their need of deep humility. The Lord has such a property in every creature, as no man can have in another; he cannot be in debt to them for their services, nor do they deserve any return from him.
Commentary on Luke 17:11-19
(Read Luke 17:11-19)
A sense of our spiritual leprosy should make us very humble whenever we draw near to Christ. It is enough to refer ourselves to the compassions of Christ, for they fail not. We may look for God to meet us with mercy, when we are found in the way of obedience. Only one of those who were healed returned to give thanks. It becomes us, like him, to be very humble in thanksgivings, as well as in prayers. Christ noticed the one who thus distinguished himself, he was a Samaritan. The others only got the outward cure, he alone got the spiritual blessing.
Commentary on Luke 17:20-37
(Read Luke 17:20-37)
The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them. It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divine grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what state the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Here is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roman armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as is here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who are marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God.