Jesus · c. AD 30
Chapter 45
Ten Lepers
One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.
For parents
In this chapter Jesus speaks of the flood that destroyed them all in Noah’s day, and of the fire and sulfur from the sky that destroyed them all on the day Lot went out of Sodom (Luke 17:26–29). He also says that where the body is, the vultures will gather (17:37). These are told as the text has them, without detail.
was on his way to , and his road ran along the borders of and .
As he went into a village, ten men with came to meet him. They stayed a long way off and shouted, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the .” On their way, they were made clean.
One of them saw that he was healed. He turned back, giving glory to God at the top of his voice. He bowed down at Jesus’ feet with his face to the ground and thanked him. And he was a .
Jesus said, “Weren’t the ten made clean? But where are the nine? Was there no one found who came back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”
Then he said to the man, “Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.”
The asked Jesus when God’s Kingdom would come. He answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation. People won’t say, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Because look, God’s Kingdom is within you.”
He said to the , “The days will come when you will want to see one of the days of the , and you won’t see it. People will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go off, and don’t follow them.
“Because on his day the Son of Man will be like the lightning that flashes out of one part of the sky and shines across to another. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
“The days of the Son of Man will be like the days of . In those days they ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage, right up to the day Noah went into the . Then the flood came, and it destroyed them all.
“It was like that in the days of too. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day Lot went out of , it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all.
“It will be the same way when the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed.”
Jesus went on, “On that day, if someone is on the housetop and his things are in the house, he must not go down to get them. And whoever is out in the field must not turn back either.
“Remember Lot’s wife! Anyone who tries to save his life loses it, but anyone who loses his life keeps it alive.
“I tell you, that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left.”
“Where, Lord?” they asked him.
He answered, “Where the body is, that is where the vultures will gather too.”
Jesus also told them a about how they must always pray and not give up. “In a certain city,” he said, “there was a judge who didn’t fear God and didn’t respect people.
“There was a widow in that city too, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my opponent!’
“For a while he wouldn’t. But afterward he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God, and I don’t respect people. But this widow is bothering me, so I will defend her. Otherwise she will wear me out by coming again and again.’”
The Lord said, “Listen to what the unfair judge says. Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, though he is patient with them?
“I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Even so, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Jesus also told this parable to some people who were sure of their own , and who looked down on all the others: “Two men went up into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a .
“The Pharisee stood and prayed by himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like everyone else: robbers, wrongdoers, people unfaithful to their husbands or wives, or even like this tax collector. I twice a week. I give of all that I get.’
“But the tax collector stood far away. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his chest and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
“I tell you, this man went back home justified, rather than the other, because everyone who lifts himself up will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be lifted up.”