1. Parables focus on the essentials, so it is pointless to wonder about things not indicated, such as who is taking care of the ninety-nine.
2. The verb “repent” (metanoeō) is emphasized in the central section (Luke 10:13; 11:32; 13:3, 5; 15:7, 10; 16:30; 17:3–4).
3. György Geréby, “The Two Sons of the One Father: The Salvation-Historical Interpretation of Luke 15:11–32,” in Religious Apologetics—Philosophical Argumentation, ed. Yossef Schwartz and Volkhard Krech (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004), 356–59.
4. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (On Reconciliation and Penance in the Mission of the Church Today) 31.
5. The two debts mentioned (see Ezra 7:22) are quite large. Estimates for the liquid measures (baths) typically range from 6 to 10 gallons each, and 6.5 to 12 bushels each for the kors.
6. John S. Kloppenborg, “The Dishonoured Master (Luke 16:1–8a),” Biblica 70 (1989): 483.
7. Klyne R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 410–11.
8. “Dwellings” is literally “tents,” an image for heaven that recalls the “dwellings” or “tents” (see Luke 9:33) of God’s people after the exodus (Lev 23:43), with God dwelling among them in the tent of meeting.
9. The phrase “dishonest wealth” (literally, “mammon of injustice”) refers not only to wealth acquired unjustly but in general to “worldly wealth” (NIV), which is a trap for those who depend on it (see 1 Tim 6:9–10). See Gary A. Anderson, Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 53, 59.
10. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke, 2 vols., AB (New York: Doubleday, 1981–85), 2:1109.
11. Josephus associates the Sadducees with the wealthy and instead describes the Pharisees as living a simpler life and being popular with the people (Jewish Antiquities 13.298; 18.12). Nonetheless, the Pharisees likely interpreted wealth to be a blessing for observing the law (see Deut 28:12). Moreover, the Pharisees’ reputation for piety and strict observance could be different from the reality (Jewish War 1.110–12; Jewish Antiquities 17.41).
12. Augustine, Sermon 293.2, in Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, 11 vols., WSA III/8 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1990–97), 8:149.
13. The NABRE translates the verb biazomai with an active meaning: everyone who enters does so with violence. However, the preceding passive verb (“is proclaimed”), Luke’s use of a different but related verb for the active meaning (Luke 24:29; Acts 16:15), and the verb’s usage elsewhere suggest a passive rendering (NET). See James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, PNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 463–64; Fitzmyer, Luke, 2:1117–18. The parallel verse has another passive meaning: “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Matt 11:12).
14. See Simon Perry, Resurrecting Interpretation: Technology, Hermeneutics, and the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2012), 161–71.
15. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 4.253. Later, the †Mishnah describes a debate about grounds for divorce; see m. Gittin 9:10.
16. See Catechism 1644–51.
17. Tertullian, Against Marcion 4.34.8–10.
18. In Christian tradition, the rich man also acquired a name—Dives—the Latin word for “rich” (Luke 16:19).
19. The phrase signifies the place of comfort (Luke 16:25) for the righteous dead before Christ (see Catechism 633).
20. Some scholars think there is some relationship between the parable about Lazarus and Jesus’ raising someone named Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–44; 12:1, 9–11). Besides the same name, other elements common to Luke and John (not found in Matthew and Mark) are the notion of Lazarus’s coming back from the dead, and the sisters Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38–42), whom John indicates are Lazarus’s sisters. However, that family seems to be rather wealthy (John 12:3, 5), unlike the poor Lazarus here. Moreover, as noted, Lazarus was a very common name.
21. The Gregorian Missal (Solesmes: St. Peter’s Abbey, 1990), 698 (translation adapted).
22. Some Old Testament references to the Gentile nations use sea symbolism (Ps 65:8; Isa 17:12; 60:5) and mention uprooting and planting (Jer 1:10). Thus in Christian tradition, Jesus’ saying is applied to the faith by which the apostles spread the gospel, such that it was “transplanted into the sea of the Gentiles” (Bonaventure, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 17.17, ed. and trans. Robert J. Karris, 3 vols. [St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 2001–4], 3:1640).
23. François Bovon, Luke, trans. Christine M. Thomas, Donald S. Deer, and James Crouch, 3 vols., Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002–13), 2:497.
The Son of Man and the Kingdom of God
Luke 17:11–18:30
As the journey to Jerusalem continues, Jesus’ teaching focuses on “the kingdom of God,” a phrase that occurs eight times in this unit.1 The audience includes his disciples (17:22; 18:15, 28) but also Pharisees (17:20), an official (18:18), and others he meets (17:12; 18:15). Jesus teaches using parables (18:1–14) and through a longer speech (17:22–37) that looks to the future coming of the “Son of Man” (17:24, 26, 30). His instruction highlights various conditions for entering the kingdom—in other words, for inheriting eternal life (18:18, 30): faith (17:19; 18:8), humility (18:14, 16–17), and detachment from one’s possessions (18:22, 28–29).
Ten Lepers Are Cleansed (17:11–19)
11As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him 13and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” 14And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. 15And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 16and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 17Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? 18Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 19Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
OT: Lev 13–14; Num 5:2–3; 2 Kings 5:1–19
NT: Luke 4:27; 5:12–16; 7:22; 18:38–39, 42–43
Lectionary: Twenty-Eighth Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C)
[17:11]
The new reminder that Jesus’ destination is Jerusalem (see 13:22) marks the beginning of another part of the long section dedicated to the journey (9:51–19:44). Jesus is traveling eastward with Samaria on his right and Galilee on his left, passing “between” (RSV) the two regions, in the small part of the Decapolis west of the Jordan, where the city of Scythopolis was located. Such a route was customary for Galilean pilgrims to Jerusalem, who would then cross the Jordan and continue south along the river valley, before turning west and crossing back at Jericho for the ascent to Jerusalem (18:31, 35; 19:1).
[17:12–13]
Jesus enters a village where he encounters ten lepers from a distance, since they were required to remain isolated according to the law (Lev 13:46; Num 5:2; see comment on Luke 5:12–16). Humbly addressing Jesus as Master, the lepers ask for pity—that is, “mercy” (RSV). The blind man at Jericho will later make the same plea (18:38–39). These cries, which echo prayers directed to God in the Psalms (Ps 86:3; 123:3), are now directed to Jesus, through whom God’s “tender mercy” is being manifested (Luke 1:78). With both the lepers and the blind, Jesus brings healing, thus indicating the advent of the Messiah (7:22).
[17:14]
Jesus immediately commands the lepers to go and show themselves to the priests, those who can examine them and officially declare that they are clean (Lev 14:1–20). Jesus had similarly instructed the individual leper after cleansing him (Luke 5:14). Here, he does so before anything takes place. It is by obeying his command—that is, believing that they will be healed—that they are cleansed while going. The miracle thus recalls Elisha’s healing of Naaman the Syrian (4:27), who likewise was cleansed from a distance after obeying
the command of the “prophet in Samaria” to “go” (2 Kings 5:3, 9–14).
[17:15–16]
However, the miracle is only half the story. One leper of the group returned. Like others whom Jesus healed, he is glorifying God (Luke 5:25; 13:13; 18:43). Similarly, Naaman had returned and confessed the true God (2 Kings 5:15). Jesus is thus a prophet like Elisha. Moreover, the man also thanked (Greek eucharisteō) Jesus: glorifying God and thanking Jesus are now linked together. In doing so, he literally fell “on his face” (RSV)—like the earlier leper (Luke 5:12)—before Jesus. This action, given its Old Testament background (2 Sam 9:6; 14:4, 33; 19:19), suggests that Jesus is also to be recognized as a king like David.2 Indeed, as Jesus continues his approach to Jerusalem, there will be frequent references to his kingship (e.g., “Son of David,” Luke 18:38–39), and when he arrives, he will be acclaimed “king” (19:38).
Figure 15. Temple inscription prohibiting further entry to foreigners (allogenēs in the first line). [© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin, courtesy of the Turkish Ministry of Antiquities and the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Turkey]
A surprising detail is now revealed: the man was a Samaritan (see 9:52–53). The implication is that the others were Jewish.
[17:17–18]
Jesus expresses disappointment that the other nine have not returned to give thanks (literally, “glory”) to God. He refers to the healed Samaritan as a foreigner (allogenēs), the only occurrence of this word in the New Testament. This word was part of the Greek inscription that was placed on the wall in the temple courts (called the soreg) beyond which non-Jews could not go, on pain of death (see Num 1:51).3 By his healing work of restoration, Jesus is overcoming the barrier between Jews and non-Jews, thus fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy:4
The foreigner joined to the LORD should not say,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people”; . . .
And foreigners who join themselves to the LORD . . .
Them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make them joyful in my house of prayer . . .
For my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples. (Isa 56:3, 6–7 [emphasis added])
Shortly, Jesus will quote this passage when he cleanses the temple (Luke 19:46).
[17:19]
Jesus dismisses the Samaritan with the same words he spoke to other marginalized people whom he healed or forgave: Your faith has saved you (7:50; 8:48; 18:42). The Greek verb for “save” (sōzō) also means “heal,” pointing on one level to the miracle. However, Jesus’ words suggest that the Samaritan received more than the physical healing that all ten lepers received. Luke’s readers would thus be reminded that faith in Jesus leads to salvation (Rom 10:9; Eph 2:8). Earlier, a Samaritan in a parable became a model of compassionate, merciful love (Luke 10:27, 33, 37). Now a real-life Samaritan has become a model of grateful, saving faith. He anticipates the Samaritan people’s later response of faith (Acts 8:12).
Reflection and Application (17:11–19)
Gratitude. Am I grateful to God for what he has done in my life? Do I thank (eucharisteō) him in the eucharistic celebration and in eucharistic adoration? Am I grateful to the people God has put in my life? How do I express my gratitude?
The Days of the Son of Man (17:20–37)
20Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, 21and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.”
22Then he said to his disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ [or] ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. 24For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be [in his day]. 25But first he must suffer greatly 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 giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. 30So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, a person who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise a person in the field must not return to what was left behind. 32Remember the wife of Lot. 33Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. 34I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. 35And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.” [36] 37They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”
OT: Gen 6:1–7:24; 19:1–29
NT: Luke 9:22, 24; 11:2, 50–51; 19:11; 21:5–36. // Matt 24:17–18, 23, 27–28, 37–41; Mark 13:15–16, 21
Catechism: giving one’s life, 1889
[17:20–21]
Two questions asked of Jesus begin and end this passage. Here, the Pharisees inquire about the time when the kingdom of God will come (see 19:11). Later, the disciples ask about the place “where” the things Jesus describes will happen (17:37).
Between the two questions, Jesus speaks about the future in the first of two speeches about “last things,” the so-called †eschatological discourses (17:22–37; 21:5–36).5 In both speeches, Jesus’ words refer to several different events and it is not always easy to distinguish between them. On one level, he announces the impending destruction of Jerusalem and its temple (21:6, 20). However, this event, which took place in AD 70, is “a sign of the last days,”6 so Jesus also seems to speak on another level about his return in glory at the end of time (17:24; 21:27; see Acts 1:11). Moreover, in this first speech, the context of the journey to Jerusalem suggests that Jesus also refers to his imminent coming to the city, where he will be put to death (Luke 17:25), which will itself signal the city’s coming devastation (13:34–35; 19:43–44; 23:28–31).
Perhaps the Pharisees’ question was prompted by their having heard about Jesus’ instruction on prayer: “Your kingdom come” (11:2). In reply, Jesus explains that the coming of the kingdom of God is not an event that can be observed (e.g., by seeking after signs, 11:16, 29) or that someone will announce. Rather, even now it is among them. Because Jesus the “king” (19:38) is in their midst, in some way the kingdom is already present (11:20).
[17:22]
However, the kingdom has not yet fully come, so one must pray for it (11:2). Jesus thus turns to his disciples to explain what will unfold in the future. He refers to the days that will come, when they will long to see even one of the days of the Son of Man. On one level, they will be tested by the absence caused by his death (17:25), when they do not see him anymore and do not yet understand (9:45; 18:34). Indeed, Jesus had earlier spoken of the days that will come (5:35) when he, the bridegroom, is taken away. On another level, the saying applies to the period after Jesus’ ascension, when disciples (including readers in succeeding generations) will wish to see his return in glory but will not know the time that the Father has established (Acts 1:7; 3:21).
LIVING TRADITION
Jesus Is Himself the Kingdom
Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, explains Jesus’ words about the kingdom with the help of the early Church writer Origen: “The kingdom [basileia] of God cannot be observed, yet, unobserved, it is among those to whom he is speaking [Luke 17:20–21]. It stands among them—in his own person. . . . In a splendid coinage of Origen’s, Jesus is [the] autobasileia”a—that is, he is himself the kingdom: “Just as he is wisdom itself and righteousness itself and truth itself, so too is he also the kingdom itself (autobasileia).”b
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St. John Paul II similarly explains the kingdom: “Christ not only proclaimed the kingdom, but in him the kingdom itself became present and was fulfilled. . . . The kingdom of God is not a concept, a doctrine, or a program subject to free interpretation, but it is before all else a person with the face and name of Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the invisible God. If the kingdom is separated from Jesus, it is no longer the kingdom of God which he revealed.”c
a. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, trans. Michael Waldstein and Aidan Nichols (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1988), 34.
b. Origen, Commentary on Matthew 14.7, quoted in Hans Urs von Balthasar, ed., Origen: Spirit and Fire: A Thematic Anthology of His Writings, trans. Robert J. Daly (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1984), 362.
c. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio (On the Permanent Validity of the Church’s Missionary Mandate) 18 (emphasis in the original).
[17:23–24]
In any case, disciples should not run after those claiming he is here or there (see Luke 21:8). This is because the Son of Man will be unmistakably glorious [in his day], like the lightning that flashes and lights up the sky. This image refers to his second coming in “great glory” (21:27), but it is helpful to remember that by his resurrection Jesus already enters “into his glory” (24:26).7 A glimpse of his glory was already seen at the transfiguration (9:32), where “his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning” (9:29 NIV).
The Gospel of Luke Page 40