Bible Commentaries
Luke 17

Verses 1-37

XVII 1-10 Teaching on Scandal, Forgiveness, Faith and Humility —(Matthew 18:6-7, Matthew 18:15, Matthew 18:21-22; Matthew 17:19; Mk 9:41). Here Lk begins a new theme. He softens down the inevitability of scandal in Matthew 18:7 by saying ’it is impossible that scandals should not come’, i.e. it is impossible to avoid them altogether.

1-6 correspond in general terms with the parallels in Mk and Mt, but Lk alone records the Apostles’ demand for faith; this is their sole appearance under that title in the Journey Narrative. It is not a request for theological faith but, as the context proves, for that confidence in God which is requisite for the working of miracles. Some have supposed that the petition had its motive in the great demands just made by Jesus on the subject of forgiveness. But the answer of our Lord is connected by Mt and Mk with the Apostles’ failure to heal the epileptic boy and with the withered fig-tree; Matthew 17:19; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:22-23. In v3 the words ’against thee’ (Vg in te) are not in the Greek.

7-10. Proper to Lk. Perhaps our Lord’s recognition of the Apostles’ ability to do miracles calls for this exhortation to the humble recognition on their part of their uselessness; not that God cares nothing for their services, but they are not to preen themselves on what they do.

11-19 Healing of the Ten Lepers —Proper to Lk. The incident occurs while Jesus is still on the way to Jerusalem; a rare indication of place and a peculiar one, ’between Samaria and Galilee’. It is suggested that he had gone north, cast of Jordan, crossed the river near Bethshan (Beisan), and now descends west of Jordan towards Jericho where we shall next find him.

12. The lepers stand afar off as the Law prescribed and Jesus gives them the command that the Law enjoins, Leviticus 13:49; Leviticus 14:2-4; the Samaritan is included in the command because his compatriots follow the Pentateuch. It is not said that the other nine were Jews, but Lk indicates this; thus the incident serves a double purpose: it shows how the Gospel blessings extend beyond the confines of Israel, and it attacks the unjustifiable confidence of the Jews. The plain suggestion is that the Jewish lepers took their cure as a matter of course, as though God’s Messianic blessings were theirs by right of birth. The Samaritan, on the other hand, showed the right attitude: faith, diffidence in his own merits, and consequent gratitude; God was intervening through Jesus on his behalf, though as a hated Samaritan ’foreigner’ (rather than ’stranger’) he could lay no claim to share in the benefits of Israel. 19b. The incident concludes with a repetition of the formula ’thy faith hath saved the’ (cf. 7:50; 8:48; 18:42).

20-37 The Coming of God’s Kingdom and of the Son of Man —This instruction is joined by Mt to the discourse on the ruin of Jerusalem, 24:26-28, 37-41, but with a slightly different arrangement. In his usual manner Lk introduces it by means of a question put by a member of the audience, a question quite in keeping with traditional Messianic views which looked for a catastrophic divine manifestation in favour of Israel. This was not in accordance with realities, as Jesus here shows. No need to be on the lookout for the Kingdom of God as one looked out for a new star; ’the Kingdom of God is within [or, among] you’. Whatever be the right word here the meaning is clear; the Kingdom of God was already there, and if the Pharisees did not see it that was because they were looking for something entirely different (cf. 11:20). The patristic interpretation favours in vobis, in your souls; but our Lord would hardly have said that of the Pharisees, though as the Pater teaches, the Kingdom of God is certainly within those who do the will of God. Such a meaning is naturally favoured by Protestants since it supports, as they think, the thesis of an invisible Church. Our Lord is merely answering the question of 20: the Kingdom will not come, because it is already here. Therefore it would not come with a glorious Messianic manifestation. Doubtless this surprised his disciples who had witnessed his miracles and the Transfiguration. In 22-31 he puts an end once and for all to these idle dreams; ’his disciples must resemble neither worldlings whose minds are set on their own temporal interests and visionaries who go no further than salvation; they must live like men on eternity. But at the same time, knowing Son of Man will not come till his hour has arrived and when he comes he will come unexpectedly, they must work in constant readiness for the time when he will call them to rejoin him’ ( Lagr., GJC II79).

22-24. A reminder perhaps of a previous warning, that he is destined to leave them and this world in a shocking manner; repeated in 25. In those days to come they will long for his glorious return, a prediction fulfilled as the Epistles of the NT show. But the), must not let their longing desire lead them into the error of thinking he has come and, like the Jews, go running after a pseudoMessias; it is useless to go looking for his coming, as fruitless as it would be to look for where the lightning will fall next. In the parallel of Matthew 24:26-28 there is mention of the Parousia, the ’presence’, ’coming’ or ’arrival’ of the Son of Man; Lk avoids the term though it is a favourite with St Paul. He prefers the expression ’the Son of Man in his day’, not the ’one day’ of 22 but the great final Messianic Day when he shall be manifested in his glory; cf.Daniel 7:13-14.26-35. As that coming will be so sudden, let them neither waste their time in seeking for it nor show that indifference to the judgements of God which was manifested in the examples cited in 26-29; many will be taken by surprise and found unprepared in spite of all his efforts (cf.Matthew 24:37-41; Matthew 10:39). With the example of Lot’s wife our Lord returns to the lesson of complete detachment in affection from the things of this world, even from life itself, where the soul’s good is at stake. He does not forbid due preoccupation with the ordinary needs of life; it is not the mere possession and use of earthly goods that will determine God’s judgements, but the soul’s attitude towards these goods; cf.1 Corinthians 7:26-35. So two persons may be occupied about the same thing, and it will not appear outwardly why God has accepted the one and rejected the other, 34-35. The ’day of the Lord here’ changes to ’in that night’, not so much perhaps because the first example is taken from sleep as that there is now a prospect of judgement, calamity and darkness; cf. 12:20, 35-36; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10.

35b. Omitted in the best MSS; probably added here from Matthew 24:40.

36-37. Various interpretations are put upon the disciples’ question, e.g. where will be the place of judgement? The sense of the question is to be sought in the answer, the literal meaning of which is plain: when one sees birds of prey (vultures rather than eagles) gathering in one direction, the presence of a dead body may be presumed and found by following them. In Matthew 24:28 the parable is used by Jesus to indicate that his chosen ones will flock to him as swiftly and surely as vultures smell out their prey; he is warning his hearers not to be led astray by false rumours, as in 23 above. The difficulty of interpretation in Lk arises from the fact that 37 is separated from that context which it has in Mt. Some interpret it here as meaning: there the judgment will be where sin has been.