Luke 17

Stumbling, Forgiveness and Faith

1He said to his disciples, “It is impossible that no one should be tripped up, but how terrible for the one through whom it comes. 2It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than to trip up one of these little ones. 3Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in one day and seven times turns back to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you are to forgive him.” 5The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith.” 6The Lord answered, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7Which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? 8Will he not rather say, ‘Get my supper ready, put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink; afterward you may eat and drink’? 9Does he thank the servant for doing what he was told? 10So it is with you. When you have done everything you were told, say, ‘We are servants who deserve nothing; we have only done what we owed.’”

Ten Men with Leprosy

11On the way to Jerusalem he was passing between Samaria and Galilee, 12and as he was entering a village, ten men with a skin disease met him. They stood at a distance 13and raised their voices: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15One of them, seeing that he had been healed, came back praising God at the top of his voice, 16and fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus said, “Were not the ten made clean? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to come back and give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19And he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has saved you.”

The Coming of the Kingdom

20When the Pharisees asked him when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered, “The kingdom of God does not come in a way you can watch for, 21nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For look — the kingdom of God is among you.” 22Then he said to the disciples, “Days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23They will tell you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go off, do not run after them. 24For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25But first he must suffer much and be rejected by this generation. 26As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27They were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, right up to the day Noah entered the ark; then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28It was the same in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, whoever is on the roof, with his belongings in the house, must not go down to fetch them; and whoever is in the field must not turn back. 32Remember Lot’s wife. 33Whoever sets out to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses it will preserve it alive. 34I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other left. 35Two women will be grinding together: one will be taken and the other left. 36Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.”* 37They answered him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the vultures will gather.”