LUKE 17

As much as Jesus places an emphasis on knowing the truth, here He sternly warns those who would keep others from it. An extremely heavy millstone, one a family would use to crush grain to make flour, tied to a person before throwing him into the sea, is the illustration He chooses to use.

A simple rule for Christian living: a brother sins, rebuke him. He repents, forgive him. Simple faith is brought to mind, again using a mustard seed. The mustard seed is used often, as it is known to be extremely small, yet powerful, when measured by the plant it produces.

In verses 7-10, the lesson is for us not to get puffed up, even when we seem busy and weary, because we are simply doing the minimum expected, as we, too, are servants. If we do get tired of the task at hand, look back to chapter 12, where the servant is to be in a constant state of readiness for the Master’s return. We should never lose sight of that.

A group of lepers, maybe literally 10, keeping ceremonially separated from others, calls out to Jesus for help and healing. A group of such men would be congregated, simply for companionship given their physical condition and society’s shunning. That they already have some faith is shown by their returning to the priest before they are healed. The healing occurs along the way, and this time the account is factual, not a parable. A Samaritan, a hated rival to the Jews, is the one who returns to thank Jesus. We see the Samaritan having the proper response to healing and salvation - PRAISE! “Made you well” is synonymous with “saved.”

Jesus spends some time discussing the second coming, and He does so in response to a question by the Pharisees. This time, the question is not meant to trap Jesus. The Pharisees, by definition, believed in a resurrection of the dead, destruction of Israel’s enemies, and the appearance of a kingly messiah. So, naturally, they imagined there would be signs they could point to in anticipation of this kingdom.

But such a time is not to be predicted. Rather, that kingdom was in their midst, just as it is in ours. Jesus’ point was/is that the kingdom does not enter people, but that people enter the kingdom. Jesus was in their midst, and His Spirit is in ours; thus God’s reign has in a sense begun, but not yet fully. Further, Jesus is not quite reigning and ruling in our hearts, at least not in the sense that fulfills His second coming or the future kingdom to be literally beginning.

Luke’s readers could not see the return of the Messiah, the Son of Man, so Jesus was teaching. Jesus, at the time, knew much was to develop yet, His death and resurrection, the Spirit’s coming, and the church beginning. After that time, as now, His return is indeed imminent. The delay of His return then, as now, should not discourage believers. We are not to be misled by teaching of it already happening, or it being figurative. Jesus says we’ll know when it occurs. There will be no doubt. Just as with those in Noah’s time, and those in Sodom and Gomorrah, it will be sudden, and unmistakable. We should not be like Lot’s wife, showing incomplete obedience, but rather fully trusting in God’s plan.

One left, one taken, thus will be the judgment for all of eternity, base on being related to God through Christ.

SO WHAT...?

So, I must keep up, actually step up, the effort for the Master. No extra credit here and now, just obedience to the King.

So, I must resist teachings contrary to His literal return, the literal Rapture of believers. he has taught it to be real, to occur at any moment. So, too, must I then keep busy.

So, again, my response to my salvation, and that of others, as nothing less than pure praise to God, thanks to His work through Jesus.