…to cause one of these Little Ones to stumble
Luke Chapter 17
LUKE 17:1-10
17:1 He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 ”It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.
7 ”Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? 8 ”But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? 9 ”He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 ”So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”
To cause one of these little ones to stumble
Jesus was often concerned about “the little ones [G3398 Mikros].” The term means “the least, little one,” and could refer to a child but also the most easily forgotten as in the widow. It reminds me of the post-Katrina tragedy. Not just the natural disaster. But the human disaster of so many who were left behind because they lacked basic transportation. These were the Mikros in Christ’s story. Whether children or the aged, leadership, to Jesus, was clearly not getting ahead, but leaving no one behind. Is that how I view my role as a leader?
Jesus often spoke about the least accepted and the most rejected [G593 Apodokidmazō, most rejected]. Saying he was the most rejected on many occasion. [Luke 7:30, 9:22, 17:25, 20:17].
In our school outreaches, instead of focusing on bullying and telling kids what “not” to do, we focus on being Intentionally Courteous (ICU Being Courteous) to the least accepted and most rejected — the lonely, sad and even the mad. Telling people what NOT to do, does not show them or guide them into what they should do.
“Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
This reading holds an interesting sequence of events.
1. Jesus tells the disciples to forgive each other until they are whole
2. The disciples plead for faith
3. Jesus tells them to focus on the pureness of their faith, not the size of their obstacles
4. Then he talks about the relationship between forgiveness of others and personal expectations
Jesus tells the disciples to forgive each other seven times (the Hebraic meaning, would be fullness) in other words, “If you want to be whole, forgive each other.” In Matthew’s version, Jesus specifically tells Peter to forgive until he is perfect.
Matthew 18:22
Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
This is not the time to pull out a calculator. Seven means fullness and seventy means perfection. We need to forgive until we are fully perfect.
“Increase our faith!”
Is it any wonder, when the disciples understand that Jesus is telling them to forgive their way into wholeness, that they ask for more faith? Do we have the faith to forgive until we are completely whole? Do we understand the connection between forgiveness and wholeness?
Holding grudges rarely hurts any one but ourselves. One Native legend ends by saying; “Anger is the poison we give ourselves.” Usually the person we don’t forgive has gone on with their life or doesn’t even think back on the harm they have caused. They might even be totally oblivious.
“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed.”
Continuing with the dichotomy, Jesus brings up the Mustard Seed; the smallest seed that produced the largest and one of the most commonly used domestic plants in Israel. The plant was so large that the poorest families would often use the mustard seed as a “poor man’s fence,” around their homes. It offered protection, spice and a resting place for birds. The seed is only 1 to 2 mm but the plant can grow up to 2.7 meters.
Jesus uses the metaphor of the Mustard Seed multiple times, saying that, “if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” [Matthew 17:20, Luke 17:6]. Jesus promises not only, “it will move” [Matthew 17:20] but he also says; “it will be done” [Matthew 21:21]; it “shall come to pass” [Mark 11:23] and it will “obey you” [Luke 17:6].
Clearly our Lord is telling us the size of an obstacle is immaterial. It is the steadfastness of our faith. Do I focus on the size of the external obstacles in my life or purifying the kernel of my internal faith life?
He also makes a connection between forgiveness and our faith life as if the best way to grow faith is to increase forgiveness. Do I look at the times when I feel slighted by others as opportunities to grow my faith through forgiveness?
Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?
Next Jesus moves on to the issue of expectations. It is interesting that most of our perceived anger towards others is wrapped around false expectations we have about them. In University, I had a great marriage and family professor who would say, “Do you expect others to be perfect or to be true to self? The first expectation is a setup.”
In doling out my anger, do I reserve a little bit — even a mustard seed’s worth — of judgment for my own false expectations? Perhaps I need to examine whether I’m setting up people to fail through my own errant lenses. Or, am I the kind of person who sets up others to succeed? If I feel surrounded by people who constantly let me down, then it is time for me to look at my own false expectations rather than other people’s perceived failures.
The Samaritan Leper
LUKE 17:11-19
[Lk 17:11] While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. [12] As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; [13] and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” [14] When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. [15] Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, [16] and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. [17] Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine – where are they? [18] “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” [19] And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
LUKE 17:11-13
[Lk 17:11] While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. [12] As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; [13] and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Ten leprous men who stood at a distance
There is much more to this story than the “ungrateful nine.” Their lack of gratitude is barely worth noting, as it is so representative of the way of humanity.
What is truly worth noting – and truly exceptional – is the incredible stretch that Jesus made to help these ten lepers. That is the eternal lesson here: God’s incredible and continual compassion to a hard-hearted and often ungrateful people.
Let’s see how hopeless the situation was for the ten lepers:
1. This is not just a leper, but a leper colony. There is no way they could “sneak up to Jesus,” he had to go to them.
2. They were lepers and as such had been chased from their families and communities who lived in dread of this disease.
3. They were sinners in the eyes of people their time. These people believed that disease was tied to sinfulness. Many believed that if you were “right with God” bad things would not befall you. It was a “blame the victim” mentality that still seems prevalent with diseases like AIDS and alcoholism or situations like poverty today.
4. They were refugees. They apparently did not belong in Galilee or in hated Samaria. Their plight made them rejected by both nations. They banded together in a community that shared only misery, hopelessness and rejection. Sorrow was their only bond.
Into this situation came the Prince of Peace, the only Son of God Most High. He brought light to the darkest place on earth with no expectation of gratitude or worship. He loved them – not for his sake – but freely for theirs.
What God of myth or human creation is so compassionate? He provides healing in the darkest place to people who lack gratitude or even simple decency.
Do I love like that?
Will this week find me touching the misery, hopelessness and rejection of others, even if (in turn) they reject me? Do I love so liberally or do I have a hidden price in the back of my mind?
”Lord, quicken my heart for those darkest of places and the most abandoned of people. Help me love without expectation of worship or reward.”
LUKE 17:14-16
[14] When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. [15] Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, [16] and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.
And he was a Samaritan.
Ultimately, this story is incorrectly interpreted if we think it is about the ten lepers. Instead, we must realize it is about you and I. By all rights, we are the unclean lepers as far as God should be concerned. We wear the filth of a lifetime of personal sin, generational sin and corporate sin. We are the outcasts who teeter on the border of life and death. We are the rejected ones and are only cleansed because God irrationally came to us.
The greatest downfall of religion is when the religious forget their own sinfulness. Too often we think of ourselves as the Messiah sent to save lepers. However, true religion begins only when see ourselves as the unclean and hopeless lepers in need of Christ. And not only as lepers, for the only leper who “got it right” was the one who was both leper and Samaritan. He should have been doubly rejected by the Son of Israel’s national God; thrice-rejected if you remember the rejection that Jesus received at the hands of the Samaritans in Luke 9:52-53.
The Son of God held no grudge, recognized no borders and carried no prejudices. That is the example we are called to follow.
It would be hubris to think that I was Jesus to the lepers. I must strive to remember that I am just a leper and a spiteful Samaritan one at that. It is only in the attitude of gratefulness (what the Gospel writers termed “Eucharisteo”) that I will find myself – and my true healing – in Jesus.
My place before Christ is a place of humility and gratitude. That is where I will finally discover the faith that heals.
LUKE 17:17-19
[17] Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine – where are they? [18] “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” [19] And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
”Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
I feel such sorrow in this story for the nine because they would never know what made them well. It wasn’t an intermediary who cleansed them (the priests who, by law, Jesus sent the lepers to so that they could be declared clean). It wasn’t the ritual that cleansed them. It was their faith that cleansed them and had they only known this; they would have carried this treasure for eternity.
How sad it is to go through life without knowing what can free us and what can make us whole. How incomplete we are when we think we will be well only if we have the right car or house, know the right person or practice the correct rituals.
How sad when we don’t realize that the attitudes of gratefulness and humility before God are our greatest assets.
They are assets available to us despite our circumstances, possessions, or positions. Here’s the point of the story: Even the lowest leper, the Samaritan Leper, can have joy if he only embraces the attitude of gratefulness and humility [eucharisteo] before God.
The Coming of the Kingdom of God
LUKE 17:20-37
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” 36
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
The kingdom of God is in your midst
Clearly, the Pharisees were trying to set up their case against Jesus. Trying to get him to say that he was attempting to build his own kingdom to compete with Herod or Rome. This is what they would seek to present to Pilate. So they ask Jesus when the kingdom would come. Jesus’ response has two major premises.
1. The Kingdom of God [G932 Basileia, Kingdom] kingdom, sovereignty or royal power
2. Is in your midst [G1787 Entos] midst, within, among, inside.
The Kingdom of God is not a place — it is an attitude. The Kingdom comes when God’s will is done on earth as it already is — and forever will be — in heaven [Matthew 6:10].
The Pharisees want to make the kingdom temporal and in competition with other nations. They want to pigeonhole Jesus as a Davidic conquering hero. Jesus sidesteps their feeble attempts by pointing out that the kingdom is the way we respond to God. While heaven is an eternal relationship with God.
Heaven [G3772 Ouranos] was seen as the sky, the air, it was all that was above the earth, above what was temporal. To Jesus, heaven was a place the poor could no longer be bullied by their oppressors (for a comparison of heaven and hell, see the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man [Luke 16:19-31] or the Older Brother who would not accept his Prodigal brother back into the family [Luke 15:11-24]. One ancient description of heaven includes veterans sitting around the campfire discussing old war stories. Imagine, these people bonded by a common mission and death defying experience, sharing memories about those who had fallen and how they had stood back-to-back against enemies together.
What will my heavenly stories include and whom? Who are the people with whom I’ve stood back-to-back in a common mission?
Do not go running off after them
Jesus warns against running off after false prophets who make grandiose promises about a Messiah. In Matthew 13:32, Jesus says, “No one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not the Son, but the Father alone.”
To know [G306a Oida] is to understand and perceive. What Christ is actually saying is, “It is NOT for you to know.”
If Jesus himself does not know, who are we to guess and extrapolate at such musings? Peter tells us the next coming of Christ will occur when we’ve done the work we’re supposed to do on earth [2 Peter 3:8-9].
We’re not called to be accountants trying to mathematically determine when the coming of Christ will occur. We are called to be laborers in the harvest bringing the crop in before the storm. Laborers don’t watch the clock — they watch the field. They know their work is not done at 5:00pm or even 5:01pm. Not if there is still grain in the field or fruit on the trees.
People have and will continue to make false promises about the Lord’s return. Ignore them. Leave them to their own calculations. Do the work of the laborer. Be committed to not allowing any to perish.
People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage
In Noah’s day, people weren’t necessarily doing wrong things. They were just ignoring the most important thing, which was aligning with God on a daily basis. They were supposed to be a people-set-apart by their faith. Instead, they had become just like everyone else around them.
Jesus states
John 13:35
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
And what kind of love? Read through 1 Corinthians 13 and every time you see the word, “Love,” substitute your name.
I Corinthians 13:4-7 (adaptation)
“I am patient. I am kind and not jealous; I do not brag and I am not arrogant, I do not act unbecomingly; I do not seek my own, I am not provoked, I do not take into account a wrong suffered, or rejoice in unrighteousness, I rejoice in truth; I bear all things, hope all things, endure all things.”
It’s a tall order… but it is our commandment.
Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.
These are very powerful terms that Jesus uses.
· Tries to keep [G4046 Peripoieō] tries to preserve, acquire, purchase, obtain
· Will lose it [G622 Apollumi] destroy, put to death or put to ruin.
From this word — to lose it — we also get the term for apologetics [G626 Apologeomai] — to try and defend oneself. Like an attorney who did not prepare his notes and keeps losing his point in his opening argument. Eventually the judge will save the court embarrassment and cut him off. When we try to defend ourselves before God’s perfection, we will only look foolish. Better to fall upon God’s mercy and let the Holy Spirit defend us — it is always better to choose humility than be humiliated.
Two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.
This will not be arbitrary choosing based upon a sliding scale of our works although James tells us that faith without works is dead. Our works are an outward sign of an inward faith [James 2:26].
We are not judged by any human means (as if God loved us based upon our performance — performance-based approval is manipulation, not love), but upon our acceptance as Jesus as the overseer and Lord of our life [Romans 10:9-13].
Simultaneously, we have the scripture from Jesus showing people who called Jesus, “Lord,” Yet, Jesus responds, “I do not know you. [Matthew 25:34-40].”
Do the hungry know my name? Do the thirsty know my name? How about the immigrant — a stranger in a strange land? Do those without protection from the elements and those imprisoned know me by name? If yes, then Jesus will also know my name.