Luke 17–19

Sin and Forgiveness

17Jesus said to his followers, “Things that cause people to sin will happen, but how terrible for the person who causes them to happen! ²It would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large stone around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³So be careful!

“If another follower sins, warn him, and if he is sorry and stops sinning, forgive him. ⁴If he sins against you seven times in one day and says that he is sorry each time, forgive him.”

How Big Is Your Faith?

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith!”

⁶The Lord said, “If your faith were the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Dig yourself up and plant yourself in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Be Good Servants

⁷“Suppose one of you has a servant who has been plowing the ground or caring for the sheep. When the servant comes in from working in the field, would you say, ‘Come in and sit down to eat’? ⁸No, you would say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Then get yourself ready and serve me. After I finish eating and drinking, you can eat.’ ⁹The servant does not get any special thanks for doing what his master commanded. ¹⁰It is the same with you. When you have done everything you are told to do, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done the work we should do.’ ”

Be Thankful

¹¹While Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he was going through the area between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he came into a small town, ten men who had a skin disease met him there. They did not come close to Jesus ¹³but called to him, “Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!”

¹⁴When Jesus saw the men, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” ⁿ

As the ten men were going, they were healed. ¹⁵When one of them saw that he was healed, he went back to Jesus, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶Then he bowed down at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (And this man was a Samaritan.) ¹⁷Jesus said, “Weren’t ten men healed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Is this Samaritan the only one who came back to thank God?” ¹⁹Then Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go on your way. You were healed because you believed.”

God’s Kingdom Is Within You

²⁰Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?”

Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. ²¹People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is within ⁿ you.”

²²Then Jesus said to his followers, “The time will come when you will want very much to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you will not see it. ²³People will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or, ‘Look, here he is!’ Stay where you are; don’t go away and search.

When Jesus Comes Again

²⁴“When the Son of Man comes again, he will shine like lightning, which flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other. ²⁵But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by the people of this time. ²⁶When the Son of Man comes again, it will be as it was when Noah lived. ²⁷People were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving their children to be married until the day Noah entered the boat. Then the flood came and killed them all. ²⁸It will be the same as during the time of Lot. People were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. ²⁹But the day Lot left Sodom, ⁿ fire and sulfur rained down from the sky and killed them all. ³⁰This is how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.

³¹“On that day, a person who is on the roof and whose belongings are in the house should not go inside to get them. A person who is in the field should not go back home. ³²Remember Lot’s wife. ^{n 33}Those who try to keep their lives will lose them. But those who give up their lives will save them. ³⁴I tell you, on that night two people will be sleeping in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken, and the other will be left. ³⁶Two people will be in the field. One will be taken, and the other will be left.” ⁿ

³⁷The followers asked Jesus, “Where will this be, Lord?”

Jesus answered, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

God Will Answer His People

18Then Jesus used this story to teach his followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. ²“In a certain town there was a judge who did not respect God or care about people. ³In that same town there was a widow who kept coming to this judge, saying, ‘Give me my rights against my enemy.’ ⁴For a while the judge refused to help her. But afterwards, he thought to himself, ‘Even though I don’t respect God or care about people, ⁵I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise she will continue to bother me until I am worn out.’ ”

⁶The Lord said, “Listen to what the unfair judge said. ⁷God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them. ⁸I tell you, God will help his people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find those on earth who believe in him?”

Being Right with God

⁹Jesus told this story to some people who thought they were very good and looked down on everyone else: ¹⁰“A Pharisee and a tax collector both went to the Temple to pray. ¹¹The Pharisee stood alone and prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people who steal, cheat, or take part in adultery, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast ⁿ twice a week, and I give one-tenth of everything I get!’

¹³“The tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even look up to heaven. But he beat on his chest because he was so sad. He said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God, but the Pharisee was not. All who make themselves great will be made humble, but all who make themselves humble will be made great.”

Who Will Enter God’s Kingdom?

¹⁵Some people brought even their babies to Jesus so he could touch them. When the followers saw this, they told them to stop. ¹⁶But Jesus called for the children, saying, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these children. ¹⁷I tell you the truth, you must accept the kingdom of God as if you were a child, or you will never enter it.”

A Rich Man’s Question

¹⁸A certain leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have life forever?”

¹⁹Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. ²⁰You know the commands: ‘You must not be guilty of adultery. You must not murder anyone. You must not steal. You must not tell lies about your neighbor. Honor your father and mother.’ ” ⁿ

²¹But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy.”

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” ²³But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.

²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, “It is very hard for rich people to enter the kingdom of God. ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Who Can Be Saved?

²⁶When the people heard this, they asked, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus answered, “The things impossible for people are possible for God.”

²⁸Peter said, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

²⁹Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, all those who have left houses, wives, brothers, parents, or children for the kingdom of God ³⁰will get much more in this life. And in the age that is coming, they will have life forever.”

Jesus Will Rise from the Dead

³¹Then Jesus took the twelve apostles aside and said to them, “We are going to Jerusalem. Everything the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will happen. ³²He will be turned over to those who are evil. They will laugh at him, insult him, spit on him, ³³beat him with whips, and kill him. But on the third day, he will rise to life again.” ³⁴The apostles did not understand this; the meaning was hidden from them, and they did not realize what was said.

Jesus Heals a Blind Man

³⁵As Jesus came near the city of Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging. ³⁶When he heard the people coming down the road, he asked, “What is happening?”

³⁷They told him, “Jesus, from Nazareth, is going by.”

³⁸The blind man cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹The people leading the group warned the blind man to be quiet. But the blind man shouted even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?”

He said, “Lord, I want to see.”

⁴²Jesus said to him, “Then see. You are healed because you believed.”

⁴³At once the man was able to see, and he followed Jesus, thanking God. All the people who saw this praised God.

Zacchaeus Meets Jesus

19Jesus was going through the city of Jericho. ²A man was there named Zacchaeus, who was a very important tax collector, and he was wealthy. ³He wanted to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because he was too short to see above the crowd. ⁴He ran ahead to a place where Jesus would come, and he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see him. ⁵When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today.”

⁶Zacchaeus came down quickly and welcomed him gladly. ⁷All the people saw this and began to complain, “Jesus is staying with a sinner!”

⁸But Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times more.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, because this man also belongs to the family of Abraham. ¹⁰The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.”

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