Forgiveness and Faith
Luke 17He said to the disciples, “Stumbling blocks will definitely come, but woe to anyone through whom they come! It would be better for them if they were thrown into the sea with millstone hung around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Y’all be careful. If your sibling sins against you, rebuke them. If they repent, forgive them. If they sin against you seven times in a day and return to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you are to forgive him.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
The Lord said, “If y’all have faith as small as a mustard seed, y’all could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey y’all. Which of y’all, will say to a servant who comes in from plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? Instead, wouldn’t the master say to him, ‘Prepare my dinner, get yourself ready, and serve me while I eat and drink. After that, you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded? In the same way, when y’all have done all the things that are commanded, y’all should say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done our duty.’”
Ten Men Healed, One Man Gives Thanks
While on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered into a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
When he saw them, he said to them, “Y’all go and show yourselves to the priests.” And while they were going, they were cleansed.
But one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and glorified God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’s feet, thanking him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus answered, “Weren’t there ten who were cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was anyone else found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Arise and go. Your faith has saved you.”
The Empire of God Is Near
The Pharisees questioned him about when the Empire of God would come, and Jesus answered them, “The Empire of God does not come with something observable, nor will anyone say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ for indeed, the Empire of God is in y’all’s midst.”
Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when y’all will long to see one of the days of the Son of Humanity, but y’all won’t see it. People will tell y’all, ‘Look here! Look there!’ But y’all must not go out and run after them. For as lightning flashes from one end of the sky and lights up the other side, so will the Son of Humanity be in his day. But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Humanity. People were eating and drinking, getting married and being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, it will be as it was in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day that Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from the sky and destroyed them all. It will just like this on the day that the Son of Humanity is revealed. On that day, anyone who is on the roof and has possessions inside the house, must not go down to get them. Likewise anyone in the field likewise not turn back. Y’all must remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will preserve it. I tell y’all, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other will be left.” +17:36 Some manuscripts include verse 36 with words similar to Matt. 24:40: “Two will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.”
Then they asked him, “Where, Lord?”
He said to them, “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.”