The Gospel of Luke
Chapter 17: Overview
There is a clear marker given in verse 11 by the comment that Jesus is continuing his journey to Jerusalem.
We can therefore read verses 1 to 10 as a unit where Jesus is speaking to his disciples (17,1). The internal unity of this unit we will need to explore in more detail.
Verses 11 to 19 then tell of the healing of the lepers. No one else is mentioned in this episode.
Not so easy to place are verses 20 and 21 where Jesus answers the Pharisees' question. We will though discover when we read that this question and answer introduces what follows, as in the NRSV. These verses, 17,22-37, are addressed to the disciples and throughout Jesus is speaking about the days of the Son of Man. We therefore read 17,20-37 together.
Yet the change of scene in 18,1 is not strong, Jesus continues to speak to the disciples. The conclusion comes in 18,8 with another saying about the Son of Man which echoes all the references found in 17,22-30. It's as well therefore to include our reading of 18,1-8 with this chapter 17.
Thus we can read all this, 17,1-18,8, in four pages:
- 17,1-10 on stumbling blocks
- 17,11-19 on the healing of the lepers
- 17,20-37 on the coming of the Son of Man
- 18,1-8 on constant prayer.
We can now return to the main page.