Luke 17
Luke 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records "some sayings of Jesus" and the healing of ten lepers. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:- Papyrus 75
- Papyrus 111
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Sinaiticus
- Codex Bezae
- Codex Washingtonianus
- Codex Alexandrinus.
Offences and forgiving of offences (verses 1–10)
Verses 1–10 are presented as a single unit in the New International Version. Commenting on the variety of topics covered in the first ten verses, Lutheran biblical writer Harold Buls states that he "assumes that there is logical sequence. The items are not merely picked or chosen by Luke from some outside source".The first four verses contain a set of "disparate sayings" meant for the community of disciples:
Verse 1
Jesus warns of "offences" coming, literally "stumbling blocks". Other translations used are "obstacles", "things that cause people to sin" and "temptations to sin". These are problems liable to arise within the believing community, although among the fathers of the early church, a connection was made with the Pharisees, with whom Jesus had been speaking in the previous chapter.Reflecting on Jesus' assertion that something might be "impossible", Lutheran Pietist Johann Bengel offers as alternative readings, "it is not a thing usual to happen" or "a thing not admissible in the common course of things", noting similarly that at Jesus had said that "it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem".
Verse 2
The "little ones" are the more vulnerable members of the community of disciples. The term appears more frequently in Matthew's gospel than in Luke's.Verses 3b–4
The Jerusalem Bible suggests that "Luke, apparently, is thinking of a matter that concerns only two of the community". Matthew 18 refers to a process of appealing to the community, which is missing from Luke's writing on this subject.Verse 5
Having previously addressed "the disciples", Jesus speaks now to the apostles, who come to him "with a special request". They feel that the moral strength of their faith in Jesus, i.e. just the loving power of their faith, is not great enough for that great task of forgiveness" which has just set for them in the previous verse: Their request is for "stronger energetic faith", better in quality rather than quantitatively more.Verse 6
The King James Version refers to a sycamine tree. Jewish law prohibited the planting of mulberry trees too close to water cisterns because of their strong rooting systems and the physical damage they could cause.Verses 7–10
Jesus describes a master who expects servants who have worked all day in the fields to serve his evening meal as well before seeing to their own needs. Joachim Jeremias considered this parable on service to be "a self-contained unit", while Paul Minear has commented on the "remarkable" degree of consensus among many biblical commentators as to its meaning. It does not appear in the other gospels but it is considered pre-Lucan, although the positioning of this passage after the reference to "the apostles" in verse 5 may have been a deliberate editorial decision in Luke.Cleansing ten lepers (verses 11–19)
This is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels. On his way to Jerusalem, continuing the journey he had begun in Luke 9:51, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said: "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him: this man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked: "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him: "Rise and go; your faith has saved you."This miracle has been described as emphasising the importance of faith, for Jesus did not say: "My power has saved you" but attributed the healing to the faith of the beneficiaries.
The coming of the kingdom (verses 20–21)
Verse 20
Verse 21
George Leo Haydock suggests that the Pharisees' question is asked "in a mocking and an insulting manner". Buls notes that the enquiry is a 'when?' question whereas Jesus' answer is a 'what?' response: the Pharisees "were expecting the Kingdom of God... to come soon"; this is "a faulty notion about the character of the Kingdom". Jesus replies that the Kingdom of God does not come "with observation" or "with a visible display": the word appears only here in the New Testament.In the, the word εντος may be translated as either "among" or "within". The more natural meaning is "within", and Baptist theologian John Gill elaborates on how the kingdom of God might be "within" you: However, reference elsewhere to the Kingdom of God as something which those who respond can "enter into" argues for the term being understood as "in the midst of you". The editors of the Jerusalem Bible suggest that "among you" is preferable to "within you" because "within you" does not "furnish as direct an answer to the Pharisees' question".