One day Jesus said to His disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”
The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you! When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey Me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.'”
Luke 17:1-10
Luke often uses a general temporal term like “one day” to begin a new thrust, topic or point. There is no specific time frame attached to it. It simply begins the next section. Most exegetes (those “experts” at extracting from the text of the Bible what was intended in the first place) feel that we have here an unconnected series of sayings. Some versions call this “Four Lessons in Discipleship”. To all intents and purposes it is a potpourri of mini teachings.
Although a couple of these teachings find a parallel of sorts in the other synoptic gospels, generally this collection is unique to Luke. There are parallel verses in Matthew and Mark but essentially this is Luke’s unique combo. Even when there are parallels, as you can see below, the match is not word for word. There are variations.
Matthew 18:6 | Mark 9:42 | Luke 17:1-2 |
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But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in Me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. | “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in Me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. | One day Jesus said to His disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. |
Luke | Matthew |
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So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. (17:3) | “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offence. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. (18:15) |
Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” (17:4) | Then Peter came to Him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” (18:21) |
Matt 18:22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” (18:22) |
Luke 17:6 | Matt 17:20 |
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The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you! | “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. “ |
“When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’
No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.
‘And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not.
In the same way, when you obey Me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.'”
This is a Lukan parallel though placed elsewhere: “The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat!” (Luke 12:37)
Matthew and Mark have their parallels in a different position in their Gospels. Either Luke has lifted these elements out of the original context and placed them here; or he is using these different sayings in this way because that’s the way Jesus spoke them. As I have said before, it is likely that Jesus spoke these elements (and others) in different teaching. That is my hunch. I don’t see it being connected to the Parable of Lazarus but it could be. Robertson in his “Harmony of the Gospels”, available on E-Sword, places this segment (Luke 17:1-10) together with the Lazarus story. He sees this being a corollary to the parable. Now how could that be? We will look at the segments in depth first, before coming back to the matter of the overall fit.
Essentially we have 5 sayings or teachings put together:
Temptations will come:
One day Jesus said to His disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.
Rebuke and forgive:
So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”
Increase our faith:
The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!
Servants don’t eat with the master:
“When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does hismaster say, ‘Come in and eat with me’ No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’
Servants aren’t thanked for serving:
And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey Me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.'”
Over the next Gems we will dig into these sayings and then see why they are put together and whether they make up one sense unit.
All my life I wanted to be someone. Now I see that I should have been more specific.
Jane Wagner
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavour to be what you desire to appear.
Socrates
To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves.
Thomas Merton
Anybody can thank God for their answered prayers. Now, have you ever thanked God for your unanswered prayers?
Anon