Lucas 17

VBL · Chapter 17/24

1Jesús le dijo a sus discípulos: “Las tentaciones son inevitables, pero ¡cuán desastroso será para aquellos por medio de los cuales vienen las tentaciones!

2Para esas personas sería mejor que se colgaran un molino en su cuello y sean lanzados al mar antes que hacer pecar a uno de estos pequeños.

3Así que tengan cuidado con lo que hacen. Si tu hermano peca, adviértele de ello; y si se arrepiente, perdónalo.

4Incluso si peca contra ti siete veces en un día, y siete veces regresa y te dice ‘lo siento mucho,’ perdónalo”.

5Los apóstoles le dijeron al Señor: “¡Ayúdanos a tener más fe!”

6El señor respondió: “Incluso si su fe fuera tan pequeña como una semilla de mostaza, ustedes podrían decirle a este árbol de mora: ‘Desentiérrate y plántate en el mar,’ y los obedecería.

7“Supongan que tienen un siervo que hace labores de arado o pastoreo. Cuando regresa del trabajo, ¿le dicen ustedes ‘entra y siéntate a comer’?

8No. Ustedes le dicen: ‘Prepárame una comida, vístete y sírveme hasta que haya terminado de comer. Después de eso puedes comer tú’.

9Y luego, ¿agradecen al siervo por hacer lo que le pidieron que hiciera? No.

10De la misma manera, cuando ustedes hayan hecho todo lo que se les encargó, simplemente digan: ‘Somos siervos indignos. Solo cumplimos con nuestro deber’”.

11Mientras continuaba de camino hacia Jerusalén, Jesús pasó por la frontera entre Samaria y Galilea.

12Cuando llegó a cierta aldea, diez leprosos fueron a su encuentro, y se quedaron a la distancia.

13Y desde allí le gritaron: “Jesús, Maestro, por favor, ten misericordia de nosotros”.

14Cuando Jesús los vio, les dijo: “Vayan y preséntense ante los sacerdotes”. Y mientras iban de camino, fueron sanados.

15Uno de ellos, cuando vio que estaba sano, regresó donde Jesús, exclamando alabanzas a Dios.

16Entonces se arrodilló ante los pies de Jesús, agradeciéndole. Y era un samaritano.

17“¿No fueron sanados diez leprosos?” preguntó Jesús. “¿Dónde están los otros nueve?

18¿No hubo ninguno que quisiera venir y alabar a Dios excepto este extranjero?”

19Entonces Jesús le dijo al hombre: “Levántate y sigue tu camino. Tu fe te ha sanado”.

20En cierta ocasión, cuando los fariseos vinieron y le preguntaron cuándo vendría el reino de Dios, Jesús respondió: “El reino de Dios no viene con señales visibles que ustedes puedan ver.

21La gente no andará por ahí diciendo: ‘Miren, está aquí’ o ‘Miren, está allá,’ porque el reino de Dios está entre ustedes”.

22Entonces Jesús dijo a sus discípulos: “Viene el tiempo cuando ustedes anhelarán ver el día en que venga el Hijo del hombre, pero no lo verán.

23Ellos les dirán: ‘Miren, allí está,’ o ‘miren, está aquí,’ pero no vayan detrás de ellos.

24El día en que venga el Hijo del hombre será como el resplandor de un rayo en el cielo, que va de un lado al otro.

25Pero primero él tendrá que sufrir muchas cosas, y ser rechazado por esta generación.

26El tiempo cuando venga el Hijo del hombre será como los días de Noé.

27La gente seguía comiendo y bebiendo, casándose y dándose en casamiento hasta el día en que Noé entró al arca. Entonces vino el diluvio y los destruyó a todos.

28Será como en los días de Lot. La gente seguía comiendo y bebiendo, comprando y vendiendo, plantando y construyendo.

29Pero el día que Lot partió de Sodoma, llovió fuego y azufre del cielo y los destruyó a todos.

30“El día que el Hijo del hombre aparezca será así.

31Así que si ustedes están arriba en el tejado ese día, no desciendan a recoger sus cosas; y si están afuera en el campo, tampoco regresen a la casa.

32¡Acuérdense de la esposa de Lot!

33Si ustedes tratan de aferrarse a sus vidas, la perderán; pero si pierden su vida, la salvarán.

34Les aseguro que en ese tiempo habrá dos personas en una cama; una será tomada y la otra será dejada.

35Habrá dos mujeres moliendo trigo, una será tomada, y la otra será dejada”.

36[El versículo 36 no aparece en los manuscritos antiguos.]

37“¿Dónde, Señor?” preguntaron ellos. “Donde está el cadáver se amontonan los buitres”, respondió Jesús.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus teaches about forgiveness, faith, and humble service. He heals ten lepers, but only one, a Samaritan, returns to give thanks. Afterward, he teaches about the sudden coming of the Kingdom of God and of the Son of Man.

Explanation

The teaching on forgiving someone 'seven times a day' if they repent (v.4) shows that Christian forgiveness has no limit on its count when there is genuine repentance. The healing of the ten lepers, with only the Samaritan — a despised foreigner — returning to give thanks, exposes common ingratitude and highlights sincere gratitude, especially coming from the one least expected. The closing teachings about the days of Noah and Lot warn that the coming of the Son of Man will surprise people caught up in life's ordinary routine, without spiritual preparation. The practical application today is to cultivate the habit of gratitude and to live spiritually prepared, without growing complacent.

Fun facts

  • Lepers were required by law to live in isolation and to cry out their condition aloud (Leviticus 13:45-46), which is why the group of ten men 'stood at a distance' when they saw Jesus (v.12).
  • The tension between Jews and Samaritans (v.16-18) makes it especially significant that the Samaritan — from a people the Jews considered heretical — was the only one to show genuine gratitude to Jesus.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Lucas 17:1Jesus acknowledges that occasions for sin are unavoidable in the world, but that does not excuse from responsibility whoever causes such occasions for another person.
  2. Lucas 17:2This specific millstone was the large mill stone pulled by a donkey — far heavier than the small hand-grinding stone used at home. Tying it around someone’s neck before throwing him into the water is an image of certain, irreversible drowning, an exaggerated way of marking the seriousness of causing one of the little ones to stumble in faith.
  3. Lucas 17:3‘Take heed to yourselves’ calls for personal watchfulness; the practical instruction is to rebuke whoever sins against you and to forgive when there is repentance — forgiveness is tied to a process of correction, not automatic with no response at all from the other party.
  4. Lucas 17:4The demand goes to the extreme: even if a person sins and asks for forgiveness seven times in the same day, forgiveness must be given every time — there is no limit after which the willingness to forgive runs out.
  5. Lucas 17:5Faced with such a demanding standard of forgiveness, the apostles ask that their own faith be increased, recognizing that they do not feel up to it on their own.
  6. Lucas 17:6Jesus’ answer uses a deliberate exaggeration: even faith the size of a mustard seed would be enough to uproot a mulberry tree and plant it in the sea — the point is not the size of the faith, but that it truly taps into the power of God.
  7. Lucas 17:7The parable describes what is normally expected of a servant: he would not be invited to sit down at the table as soon as he came in from the field, even after a full day’s work.
  8. Lucas 17:8Instead, he is expected to prepare the meal and serve the master first, and only afterward eat and drink on his own — the normal order of priorities in a household of that time.
  9. Lucas 17:9The rhetorical question about thanking the servant for doing what he was told already suggests the answer: this is considered basic duty, not an extra favor.
  10. Lucas 17:10The application is about humility: even after doing everything commanded, the right attitude is to recognize that one has only done one’s duty, without expecting special merit for it.
  11. Lucas 17:11This geographic detail, passing between Samaria and Galilee, places the scene in a border region between Jews and Samaritans — relevant to the episode of the ten lepers that follows.
  12. Lucas 17:12The ten lepers stop at a distance, keeping the separation the law required for those with that disease, unable to freely approach other people.
  13. Lucas 17:13The group cries out together, united by the same condition of exclusion, pleading for mercy from Jesus in unison.
  14. Lucas 17:14Sending the ten to the priests meant requesting the same official procedure always used to declare someone cleansed of leprosy — except here Jesus gives that order before any visible sign of healing. They have to set out trusting that the healing will happen along the way, which is exactly what happens.
  15. Lucas 17:15Only one of them, on realizing he was healed, turns back glorifying God aloud — a striking exception within a group that should have reacted the same way.
  16. Lucas 17:16Given the hostility between Jews and Samaritans that appears elsewhere in the book, it is striking that the only one who comes back to give thanks is identified as the foreigner, the Samaritan. The other nine, presumably Jews, simply go on their way once healed.
  17. Lucas 17:17Jesus’ question exposes the imbalance: ten were healed, but only one came back — most simply went on their way without showing any gratitude.
  18. Lucas 17:18It is striking that the only one who came back to give glory to God was identified as a foreigner — a Samaritan showing more spiritual perception than the other nine, presumably Jews.
  19. Lucas 17:19Jesus ties the physical healing already given to something deeper, called here ‘salvation,’ tied specifically to the faith that moved him to come back and give thanks.
  20. Lucas 17:20Faced with the Pharisees’ question about when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus goes against the common expectation of visible, calculable signs announcing its arrival.
  21. Lucas 17:21This saying, one of the most debated in the Gospel, is generally understood as the kingdom already present in the very person and ministry of Jesus among them, not a future place to point to on a map.
  22. Lucas 17:22Jesus warns the disciples of a future time when they will long to relive the days when they were physically with Him and will not be able to — anticipating the longing for His direct presence.
  23. Lucas 17:23The warning against claims of ‘See here’ or ‘see there’ repeats the same idea given to the Pharisees, now as a warning against being deceived by false messianic claims.
  24. Lucas 17:24The coming of the Son of Man is compared to lightning, instantly visible across the whole sky — the opposite of a localized, secret claim about where he might be hidden.
  25. Lucas 17:25Before that glorious manifestation, though, Jesus inserts the necessity of suffering: He must first be rejected by this generation — avoiding any premature triumphalism.
  26. Lucas 17:26The comparison to the days of Noah is a classic biblical example of normal life continuing right up until a sudden judgment.
  27. Lucas 17:27Eating, drinking, and marrying are not wrong activities in themselves — the point is that life went on completely as usual right up to the very moment the flood arrived by surprise. It is a warning against complacency, not a condemnation of ordinary daily things.
  28. Lucas 17:28The same pattern repeats in the days of Lot: buying, selling, planting, and building went on as normal, with no apparent sign of alarm.
  29. Lucas 17:29On the very day Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone fell, destroying everything — the moment of rescue and the moment of judgment coincide exactly, with no gap between them.
  30. Lucas 17:30Jesus applies both stories directly: so it will be also on the day the Son of Man is revealed, sudden and in the midst of ordinary life.
  31. Lucas 17:31The instruction not to come down for one’s belongings or turn back from the field calls for an immediate response, without hesitating over material goods — the same principle of urgency already taught earlier about the plow.
  32. Lucas 17:32The reference is to the episode in Genesis in which Lot’s wife looked back toward the destruction of Sodom, against the instruction she had received, and turned into a pillar of salt. It is a short, direct warning against hesitating or clinging to what is being left behind when the time comes to act.
  33. Lucas 17:33This saying, already used earlier in another context, repeats the paradox: trying to save one’s own life results in losing it, and losing one’s life results in saving it — now applied to this scenario of sudden judgment.
  34. Lucas 17:34The scene of two people in the same bed, one taken and the other left, describes an individual separation happening even among people in the exact same circumstances.
  35. Lucas 17:35The same idea repeats with two women grinding grain together — reinforcing that the separation does not depend on shared activity or place, it is personal.
  36. Lucas 17:36One more repetition of the same image, now with two men in the field — the insistence on varying the setting reinforces that no one is automatically included or excluded by company or location.
  37. Lucas 17:37The disciples ask where this will happen, and Jesus answers with a proverb: wherever the body is, there the vultures will gather — suggesting the event will be self-evident, needing no location announced in advance.

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