Luke 17:1-19: The Scandalous Verses, part 1: Forgivers and the grateful leper

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Continuing the themes of hope for the “lost” from God (Luke 15 study part 1 and part 2) and hope in God being more wealth-creating than material goods (Luke 16 studies part 1 and part 2), the parables of Luke 17 give us positive role models of hope and trust in God.

In Luke 17:1-10, the warning against “scandalizing” “these little ones” comes after the warnings against loving money over Torah-directed charity and blocking the “lost” who want to come back to God (chapter 16). Stumbling block is translated from σκάνδαλον skandalon (Strong’s lexicon No. G4625), and cause to stumble from σκανδαλίζω skandalizo (Strong’s G4624). These “little ones” could be adults who took the Master’s counsel to seek a childlike trust in God. Yeshua gives an example of having a childlike faith in God:

“If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4)

The next section we’ll read is Luke 17:11-19 and parallel passages in Matt. 6:14-15; 18:1-10. Yeshua healed 10 lepers who had called out to him and asked Yeshua to have mercy on them and asked for His healing. Yeshua was becoming more famous as a faith healer by this time in His ministry — as recorded a few chapters before back in Luke 5 — and they had the hope of desperation that Yeshua would restore them. He healed them after they stepped out in faith and went to meet the priests as Yeshua had instructed.  At some point, as they were in their way to meet the priest, the leprosy left all 10 of the men. 

Only one of the 10 lepers, a Samaritan, had enough faith to return in gratitude to Yeshua when he realized he was healed. Hope is a part of faith but the follow-though of that hope is also a part of faith. The thankful one trusted the cleansing of the body but he also understood it was just the first step of a lifelong cleansing of his soul.

The entire Bible, but particularly the books of the prophets, are recorded for the “sheep” and the “shepherds.” But in many cases, the “shepherds” were concerned about their own power than being good shepherds to God’s “flock.” God warns them that he will remove them from their authority over His people and replace them with humble servants who listen to Him and take care of His sheep.

All of the parables in Luke 17 gives us positive role models of faith and hope:

• Children wanted to be near the Master, and the Master wanted to be near them. 
• The serial sinner “brother” forgiven seven times a day trusted that although he had egregiously sinned against his friend, he could approach the friend and receive forgiveness and compassion. 
• The forgiver continued to hope that his “sinner” friend would completely repent once and for all at some point from his life of lapsing. The forgiver trusted that God would avenge the sins. God said, “Vengeance is mine.” If we trust that God really will take care of it, we can just let it go.
• The “unworthy slaves” trusted that the master would provide food and water even when he seems to be selfishly or capriciously delaying the promise of provision. 
• All 10 lepers hoped the Master would bring God’s mercy to their plight. The thankful one trusted that the cleansing of his body was just the first step of his restoration, not the only step.

Through God’s inspiration, apostle Paul observed that our hope in God ultimately won’t be disappointed (Rom. 5:3-5).

Speaker: Jeff. Summary: Tammy.