Forgive, believe, give thanks: the ten lepers and the coming of the Son of Man

Luke 17 comes from the Gospel of Luke, which tradition from the second century names as the work of Luke, the physician and companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14). The book itself does not name its author, and some critical scholars doubt that he knew Paul. Luke writes for a person called Theophilus (1:3) and probably for a Greek-speaking, mainly Gentile Christian audience. Suggested dates run from the early 60s, which suits the abrupt ending of Acts, to the 80s, on the view that Luke used Mark and wrote after Rome destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70.

The chapter belongs to the travel narrative (9:51-19:44), and Luke marks this at 17:11, saying that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem and passing between Samaria and Galilee. The first section (17:1-10) has parallels in Matthew 18:6-7, 15, 21-22 and 17:20 and in Mark 9:42, which suits the common view that these are sayings Luke shared with Matthew, though others hold that Luke used Matthew directly. The healing of the ten lepers is found only in Luke, who elsewhere has a special interest in Samaritans (9:51-56; 10:25-37) and in the inclusion of outsiders. The long speech on the Son of Man (17:20-37) has a parallel in Matthew 24:23-41 in Jesus' great discourse on the last days, but Luke has it here and then again his own version in chapter 21.

The setting is the border region between Galilee and Samaria. Jews and Samaritans had a long history of hostility, traced to the Assyrian resettlement of the north (2 Kings 17) and to rival worship on Mount Gerizim. Lepers lived outside villages and had to keep their distance (Leviticus 13:45-46), and a cleansed leper was to show himself to a priest (Leviticus 14). Luke's contribution in this chapter is to set a rebuke of the leaders, a lesson for the disciples and an end-time discourse in close sequence, each looking toward Jerusalem.

Luke 17 gathers sayings, a miracle and a discourse. Each part has its own rules. The first four verses are short commands in the style of wisdom teaching, with deliberate overstatement in the millstone and the seven times a day. The mustard seed saying is an answer to a request, and the servant parable that follows is an illustration, not a rule for how God treats his people. Its point is that obedience is a duty and no ground for claiming credit.

The discourse in verses 22-37 uses the language of apocalyptic and judgment. Such speech uses images drawn from the Old Testament, in this case the flood and the destruction of Sodom, to convey the suddenness of what is coming. The images should be read as pictures that carry a main point, which here is the unexpected and public arrival of the Son of Man and the need to be ready, and not as a timetable. Interpreters also have to keep in mind that Jesus speaks both of his coming 'day' and of a prior suffering. The text is not a free-standing prediction of the end but one more step in Luke's account of the road that leads through the cross.

A textual point: verse 36 appears in some later manuscripts, parallel to Matthew 24:40, and most modern translations, including the BSB, omit it. The numbering in the BSB jumps from verse 35 to verse 37 for that reason.

Verses 1–4

Stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for that person to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. The little ones are the vulnerable among Jesus' followers. Jesus turns to the discipline of the community: if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins seven times in a day and seven times returns saying that he repents, forgive him. Seven is a number of completeness, and the point is that forgiveness has no limit as long as repentance is sought. The rebuke and the pardon belong together.

Verses 5–10

The apostles ask the Lord to increase their faith. He answers that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed they could tell this mulberry tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey. The point is not the amount of faith but the God in whom it trusts: even a tiny faith in a great God can do what looks impossible. In Matthew 17:20 the image is a mountain. Then Jesus asks which of them, with a servant just in from ploughing or herding, would tell him to sit down to eat. They would tell him to prepare the meal and serve while the master eats, and afterwards he may eat. Does the master thank the servant for doing what was commanded? So the disciples, when they have done everything commanded, should say that they are unworthy servants who have only done their duty. The parable guards against the idea that obedience puts God in debt.

Verses 11–19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus is in the borderland between Samaria and Galilee. Ten men with leprosy stand at a distance, as the Law required, and call out, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' He tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, which is the step that follows a cleansing (Leviticus 14:2-4). They are not yet healed when they go. As they go, they are cleansed, so their obedience precedes their healing. One of them, seeing that he is healed, turns back, praising God in a loud voice, falls at Jesus' feet and thanks him. He is a Samaritan. Jesus asks whether all ten were not cleansed and where the other nine are, and why only this foreigner returned to give glory to God. The word foreigner was used for non-Israelites. To the Samaritan he says, 'Rise and go; your faith has made you well.' The verb can mean 'saved', and the Samaritan has received more than the cure the others received. The story echoes Elisha and the Syrian Naaman (2 Kings 5), which Jesus used in Nazareth (Luke 4:27). The Samaritan praises God and thanks Jesus in a single act, and Jesus does not correct him.

Verses 20–21

Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, Jesus says it does not come with observable signs, and no one will say 'Look, here it is' or 'There it is'. The kingdom of God, he says, is in your midst. The Greek can also be rendered 'within you', but since Jesus is speaking to Pharisees who do not accept him, 'in your midst' or 'among you' is more likely, as the king is standing among them.

Verses 22–37

To the disciples Jesus says the time will come when they long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and will not see it. People will say that he is here or there, and they must not run after them. The Son of Man in his day will be like lightning that lights the sky from one end to the other. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. The unfolding is in that order. Then come two examples. In the days of Noah people were eating, drinking, marrying until the day he entered the ark and the flood destroyed them all (Genesis 6-7). In the days of Lot they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building until the day Lot left Sodom and fire and sulfur rained from heaven (Genesis 19). Ordinary life is not the sin. The sin is complete absorption in it, with no readiness for judgment. On that day no one should go back for his goods, and Jesus adds three words: remember Lot's wife (Genesis 19:26). Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses it will preserve it. Two will be in one bed and two women grinding grain together, one taken and one left. The disciples ask where, and Jesus answers with the saying about the vultures gathering where there is a carcass, a picture of judgment that cannot be missed.

The chapter teaches the community's life under the coming kingdom. Forgiveness without a ceiling echoes the Lord's own forgiveness (Luke 11:4; Psalm 103:12). Faith is shown as trust, however small, in a God who does the impossible, as in Abraham (Romans 4:20-21). The unprofitable servant keeps obedience from becoming a claim on God, a theme that Paul develops (Romans 4:4; 11:35). And the thankful Samaritan teaches that gratitude is the right response to grace.

The discourse teaches the structure of the last things as the New Testament presents them: the kingdom is already present in the king's ministry, yet the day of the Son of Man is still to be revealed. The suffering and rejection come first. The days of Noah and Lot are used elsewhere as models of unexpected judgment (2 Peter 2:5-9; Hebrews 11:7). The Bible holds together God's patience and the certainty of judgment, and Luke 17 teaches both.

The title Son of Man is at the centre of the chapter. It comes from Daniel 7:13-14, where one like a son of man comes with the clouds and receives everlasting dominion. Jesus takes the title and joins it to suffering: he must suffer many things and be rejected before he appears in glory. Luke has already recorded this in 9:22, and the following chapters show it unfolding. The pairing of suffering and glory is the pattern the risen Lord later explains to the disciples on the road (24:25-27). This is fulfilment.

The kingdom is among the Pharisees because the king is. Jesus does not say it will come with signs, since he himself is the sign standing among them. The Samaritan who falls at Jesus' feet gives thanks to Jesus and glory to God in the same act, and Jesus does not correct him. Some readers hear an echo of worship here. The days of Noah and Lot are types of judgment at his appearing: the ark and the escape from Sodom are pictures of rescue, and the New Testament joins them to Christ (1 Peter 3:20-21). His healing of the leper, the one the Law kept at a distance, shows him as the one who brings the outcast near.