HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1311
L UKE 18
page 941
as small as a mustard seed, you could say to
this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and
be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!
7 “When a servant comes in from plowing or
taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come
in and eat with me’? 8 No, he says, ‘Prepare my
meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I
eat. Then you can eat later.’ 9 And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told
to do? Of course not. 10 In the same way, when
you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy
servants who have simply done our duty.’”
Ten Healed of Leprosy
11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he
reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten men
with leprosy stood at a distance, 13 crying out,
“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”* And as they went, they
were cleansed of their leprosy.
15 One of them, when he saw that he was
healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise
God!” 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet,
thanking him for what he had done. This man
was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where
are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give
glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And Jesus
said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith
has healed you.*”
The Coming of the Kingdom
20 One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When
will the Kingdom of God come?”
Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be
detected by visible signs.* 21 You won’t be able to
say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.*”
22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is
coming when you will long to see the day when
the Son of Man returns,* but you won’t see it.
23 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of
Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow
them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights
up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be
on the day* when the Son of Man comes. 25 But
first the Son of Man must suffer terribly* and be
rejected by this generation.
26 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be
like it was in Noah’s day. 27 In those days, the
people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
17:14 See Lev 14:2-32. 17:19 Or Your faith has saved you.
17:20 Or by your speculations. 17:21 Or is within you, or is in
your grasp. 17:22 Or long for even one day with the Son of Man.
“Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself. 17:24 Some
manuscripts do not include on the day. 17:25 Or suffer many
things. 17:35 Some manuscripts add verse 36, Two men will
be working in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Compare
Matt 24:40. 17:37a Greek “Where, Lord?” 17:37b Greek
“Wherever the carcass is, the vultures gather.”
28 “And the world will be as it was in the days
of Lot. People went about their daily business—
eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—29 until the morning Lot left
Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained
down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to
the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On
that day a person out on the deck of a roof must
not go down into the house to pack. A person
out in the field must not return home. 32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! 33 If you cling
to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your
life go, you will save it. 34 That night two people
will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken,
the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding
flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the
other left.*”
37 “Where will this happen, Lord?”* the disciples asked.
Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these
signs indicate that the end is near.”*
Parable of the Persistent Widow
One day Jesus told his disciples a story
to show that they should always pray
and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor
cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came
to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in
this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored
her for a while, but finally he said to himself,
‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this
woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that
she gets justice, because she is wearing me out
with her constant requests!’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this
unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision
in the end. So don’t you think God will surely
give justice to his chosen people who cry out to
him day and night? Will he keep putting them
18
• Forgiveness
LU K E 17:4
Since forgiveness is an expression of
love, a person whose life has an endless
supply of love should be demonstrating
an endless supply of forgiveness. We can
experience unlimited love in our relationship with God. It is this resource that
makes it possible for us to forgive others
again and again. First, we recognize that
God forgives us time and time again.
Second, we want to express God’s love
in a world that needs desperately to
witness it.