Luke 17 - There Are No Atheists in Foxholes!

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Sin, Faith, Duty

Jesus warns those who might cause others to stumble in their faith. We typically see this as someone who tempts someone to do something bad. But since Jesus has been so hard of the legalism of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, he could be referring to the heavy burdens they tie on the backs of people. More than one person has stumbled thinking since they could not keep the law perfectly, God must have written them off already. 

So, the question becomes how should those in the body treat each other when someone has sinned them. Jesus says to confront them directly. Note not "backstab" or 'gossip'. If the person admits they are wrong AND commits to changing their behavior, one should forgive them. Note some people can say they are sorry and never intend to change anything. We see this all the time. There is no genuine repentance if the behavior in question doesn't change.  

Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior. This begs the question, 

Should I forgive someone if they don't repent? Because we can't change a human heart or know when someone has truly repented, I believe we need to forgive people unless we know they are completely insincere. If a person continues the behavior right away that is a different story. They are clearly trying to take advantage of or manipulate you. I don't believe this kind of thing is what Jesus is referring to.   

What do we do with the person who has never repented? Do we forgive them? Even if relationship cannot be restored because no common mind is arrived at, we can still choose to forgive them on our part, and wait for a work of God in their life for the restoration of relationship. - Guzik

The disciples realized upon hearing this that it would be quite a test of faith to forgive those who have harmed them or were not willing to repent. They probably anticipated some of the persecution they were going to get once Jesus left. Jesus tells them all they need is the faith of size of a mustard seed. 

The mustard seed was the smallest seed in Jesus' day. Jesus uses it as a metaphor to show faith was a gift from God. If we can trust God even at the smallest level, he can increase our faith. When we forgive someone it is an act of faith, which gets stronger as we continue exercise this kind of faith. When we forgive someone, we take away their right to control us and our anger toward them. 

We will know we have grown in this area when we can get to point where we almost can't be offended. You will notice in Jesus' life he wasn't easily, if ever offended. 

Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy

When Jesus was traveling Samaria, he was bound to meet some Gentiles.  Some of them may have converted to Judaism. These people were called Samaritans. The term "Samaritan" took on a negative connotation because in general the Jews tried to stay away from Gentiles. In this case, the Samaritan leper that Jesus healed was definitely a converted Jew, because Jesus told all ten of them to go show themselves to the priest. 

But the crux of the story is that out of the ten men who were healed of leprosy, it was only the Samaritan who came back to thanks and praise Jesus for what he did for him. Jesus is somewhat surprised by this as he asks rhetorically, 

"Where are the other nine, did no one come back to give praise except this foreigner?"

Then, he says something more interesting, 

“Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

His comment raises several interesting questions? Was the fact that the man came back the reason Jesus noted his faith? Did the other men not have faith because they didn't return? We have to be careful to not make too many assumptions, but we can safely assume that by this man coming back to thank Jesus it was clear his faith in Jesus made him well. He gave thanks because Jesus healed him of this cruel and humiliating disease. It would be interesting to get the stories on the other guys. 

There was an extra healing for this tenth leper. When Jesus said this, He likely meant God’s work within the man’s heart. The other lepers had whole bodies, but sick hearts. - Guzik

This brings up the fact that sometimes people go to God when they have no place to go. But then when God answers their prayers, they move onto something else. These are sometimes called, "Foxhole prayers" Someone has said, "There are no atheists in foxholes." But this does not mean that some of these foxhole prayers don't lead to genuine faith. I have heard many a time someone saying they made one "last ditch" effort to reach out to God in prayer. When he answered their prayers, they became believers for life. 

The Coming of the Kingdom of God

Though the Pharisees generally scorned Jesus or were threatened by him, on this occasion one of the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come? Remember most Pharisees associated the coming of God's kingdom with the coming of the Messiah. The root of the word "Messiah" is usually associated with the words "anointed one", or "king". 

By their question, they were assuming that the kingdom of God would come in the future, but they forgot John the Baptist's first sermon when Jesus appeared, "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand!" Since Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King of kings, everything he did ushered in God's kingdom, albeit sometimes in more dramatic ways than others. 

Then, it seems on another occasion he taught the disciples that in the days ahead people would long for the Son of Man to come back. People would try to point to signs of his coming back, like "flashes of lightning" that light up the sky. But before all that happened Jesus would need to go to the cross, apparently something the disciples had not quite gotten yet. 

Then he cites two Old Testament stories which illustrate the suddenness of His Second Coming. The first story was in the day of Noah, when Noah warned people about God's coming wrath, but the people kept on with their everyday business until it started raining. It is never stopped raining.

The second story was the story of Lot and his wife, who failed to heed the angel's warning to leave the seductive and evil ways of the city of Sodom. The angel had warned them of the sulfur which would rain down from heaven to destroy Sodom, but Lot's wife could not help but look back, and she suffered the consequences of doing so. 

It seems that no matter how many warnings there were in Jesus' day, or even through the last 2,000 years, people will still don't heed them. Jesus tells two stories which show how one person will be taken and the other one left. Presumably, a husband and wife will be in bed, and one will be taken and one left behind. Two ladies will be grinding grain, and one will be taken and one left. 

The bottom line is in both of these illustrations the people were going on with their daily lives but were not prepared for Jesus to return. They were not prepared to give an account for why they had rejected the grace He had so freely given them when he died for them on the cross. 

 Even as the world seemed to continue in the normal routines of life before the flood and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jesus said there will be some sense of normalcy in the world when He is revealed.

Are you ready for Jesus to return? Don't get left behind!