Luke 17

     17:1-10.  Those who entice the naive to the sins of the world are stumbling blocks, of course, but the particular focus here seems to be the religious elite, who are stumbling blocks to the weak and humble.  They have no mercy, no forgiveness, and no sense of their own sin.  “Take heed to yourselves!” (margin), i.e. about having such an attitude.  (This warning probably belongs in v.2 rather than v.3).

     Where sin is not acknowledged, forgiveness is meaningless (3).  But our willingness to forgive a repentant sinner must be absolute (4).  Rightly do the apostles respond to this, “Increase our faith!” (5).  Forgiveness does not come naturally.  The mulberry is an extremely well rooted tree, and is used here as a metaphor for an unforgiving spirit planted in the heart (6).

     17:7-10 illustrates the impossibility of earning merit by forgiving others.  We only do our duty, what we are indebted to our master to do.  If we remember our own forgiven debt, it should be easier to forgive our debtors (cf. Luke 11:4 Lord’s Prayer).

     17:11-19.  Groups of lepers had no need to exclude any such as this Samaritan.  After all, they were unclean already, and had to warn others not to approach them.  By faith, the nine Jews did what both Jesus and the law (Lev.14) told them to do, and were cleansed, but it was the Samaritan whose gratitude brought him back to worship at the true temple, and whose faith was commended above the rest.

      17:20-37.  Those who look for the where and when of the kingdom of God are missing the point.  Where or when will lightning strike?  Now is the time to take heed of that day.  No one saw judgment coming in Noah’s day, nor in Lot’s day.  Take hold of the kingdom now while it is “in your midst,” (21).   (The margin, “within you,” is a very dangerous alternative translation.  There is no salvation in self-absorption).  Jesus, preceded by John, had been warning from the beginning that the kingdom was at hand, and that repentance and faith was the way to enter in.  The Son of Man calls his sheep to enter the fold.  Those who will not enter will be locked outside when the Day suddenly comes.  The vultures circling the corpse will tell you where judgment has come, but that will be a day or two too late to look for signs (37).