Luke 17

Jesus teaches his disciples

1 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Some things in this world will cause people to do wrong things. You can be sure about that. But God will punish anyone who makes these bad things happen. 2 It would be better for that person if someone tied a big stone around his neck and then threw him into the sea. Nobody should ever cause anyone who believes in me to do wrong things, even if they do not seem to be important people.

3 Be careful how you live. If another believer does something wrong, warn him about it. He may say, “I am sorry for what I did. I will not do it again.” If he says that, you must forgive him. 4 Your brother may do a bad thing against you seven times in one day. He may come to you each time and say, “I am sorry for what I did. I will not do it again.” If he does that, you must forgive him every time.’

5 The apostles said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Help us to trust God more than we do.’

6 The Lord replied, ‘You may believe in God only a little bit, like a very small seed. Even then, you could say to this tree, “Pull yourself out of the ground and plant yourself in the sea.” Then the tree would obey you.

7 Think about this. You may have a servant that is ploughing your land. Or you may have a servant that is taking care of your sheep. When he comes in from his work in the evening, you would not say to him, “Sit down and eat.” 8 Instead, you would say to your servant, “Prepare my meal for me. Dress yourself properly and bring the food to me. I will eat and drink first. You can eat when I have finished.”

9 Servants should do what their masters tell them to do. That is what they should do and their masters do not need to thank them for it. 10 It is the same with you. The Master tells you what you must do. So when you have done all of it, you should say, “We are not special servants who deserve honour. We have only done what we should do.” ’

Jesus helps 10 men who had a bad skin disease

11 On his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus was travelling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 When he was going into a village, ten men came towards him. These men had a bad skin disease. They stopped and they stood a long way away from Jesus. 13 They shouted, ‘Jesus, Master, please be kind to us.’

14 Jesus saw them and he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’

While they were going on their way, their disease disappeared. 15 One of these ten men saw that Jesus had made him well. He turned back and he praised God in a loud voice. 16 He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and he thanked him. This man was from Samaria.

17 Then Jesus said, ‘I surely made ten men well again. There should be another nine men somewhere! 18 But only this one man came back to thank God. And he is a foreign man from Samaria!’

19 Then Jesus said to the man, ‘Stand up and go on your way. You believed in me, so now you are really well.’

The time when God will rule in people's lives

20 Then some Pharisees asked Jesus a question. ‘When will the kingdom of God come here on earth?’

Jesus replied, ‘When God comes to rule in his kingdom, people will not see it with their eyes. 21 Nobody will say, “Look everyone! God is ruling in this place,” or “Look! God is ruling in that place.” No, it is not like that. God's kingdom has already come among you.’

22 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The time will soon come when you want to see me, the Son of Man, return to the earth. But you will not see that day. 23 Some people will say to you, “Look, there he is!” or “Here he is!” But do not go out with them to look. 24 When lightning shines, it quickly makes the whole of the sky light from one side to the other. It will be like that on the day when the Son of Man returns. 25 But before this happens, the people of today will refuse to accept me. Because of that, I will suffer very much.

26 Remember what happened when Noah was alive. It will be like that when the Son of Man returns to the earth. 27 In Noah's time, people were eating their meals every day. Men and women continued to marry. They continued to do all this until the day when Noah went into his boat. Then it rained for a long time and there was deep water everywhere. The water killed all the people.

28 The same kind of thing happened when Lot was alive. People in the city of Sodom were eating their meals every day. They were buying and selling things. They were planting their seeds and they were building their houses. 29 But one day God caused fire and burning stones to pour down from the sky. That was the day that Lot went away from Sodom. But all the people who remained in Sodom died.

30 It will happen quickly like that, on the day when I, the Son of Man, show myself clearly. 31 On that day, a person who is up on the roof of his house must not go back down into the house. He must not get his things that are inside the house to take with him. In the same way, people that are working outside in their fields must not go back to their homes. 32 Remember what happened to Lot's wife.

33 Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever agrees to lose his life will have true life. 34 I tell you this. At that time, two people will be sleeping in one bed. God will take one of them away but he will leave the other one behind. 35 Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away but he will leave the other one behind.’ 36 

37 Jesus' disciples asked him, ‘ Lord, where will this happen?’

Jesus replied, ‘If a dead body is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.’