The Savior for All: Only the Samaritan Returned
Luke 17 contains the story of the ten lepers — and the unforgettable detail that only the Samaritan returned to give thanks.
Ten received mercy. Nine kept walking. One came back.
Around that story, Jesus teaches on the seriousness of leading others into sin, the smallness of mustard-seed faith, the duty of the servant, and the coming of the Kingdom that is in our midst but not in the places people are looking.
The Savior for All gives mercy widely — but the people who circle back to thank Him are often the ones the establishment despised.
Stumbling blocks
Jesus says to His disciples:
"Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin."
The Savior takes seriously the spiritual damage done by those who lead others into sin. The judgment will be severe.
Forgive seven times
"Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."
The apostles say to the Lord:
"Increase our faith!"
It is the right response. Forgiving seven times a day requires faith we do not have.
The Lord says:
"If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."
Faith is not measured by quantity, but by genuineness. A mustard seed of real faith is enough to do impossible things — including the impossible work of forgiving an offender seven times in one day.
The unworthy servant
He gives a small parable. Who among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, Come at once and recline at table? Will he not rather say to him: Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?
"So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"
This is a stern lesson against spiritual self-congratulation. Obedience does not put God in our debt. Even our best service is only our duty.
Ten lepers
On the way to Jerusalem, He is passing along between Samaria and Galilee. As He enters a village, He is met by ten lepers, who stand at a distance and lift up their voices:
"Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."
When He sees them, He says:
"Go and show yourselves to the priests."
They go. And as they go, they are cleansed.
"Where are the nine?"
One of them, when he sees that he is healed, turns back, praising God with a loud voice. He falls on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks. He is a Samaritan.
Jesus answers:
"Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
He says to the man:
"Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."
The nine were healed. Only the one was saved.
The other nine were obedient — they went to the priests. They were cleansed of their leprosy. But only the Samaritan recognized that the deeper need was not clean skin but a clean relationship with the Healer. He came back. He worshiped. He was made well in the deepest sense.
The Savior for All is honored when a foreigner returns to thank Him for what insiders take for granted.
The Kingdom is in your midst
The Pharisees ask Him when the Kingdom of God will come.
He answers:
"The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
The Kingdom has already come in the King who stands among them. They are looking for a future event. The King is in the room.
The day of the Son of Man
He turns to the disciples and warns them about the day of His return:
"The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, 'Look, there!' or 'Look, here!' Do not go out or follow them, for as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day."
He must first suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
He compares the day to the days of Noah and the days of Lot — people eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building — when suddenly the flood came, when suddenly the fire fell.
"So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed."
He gives the urgent warning:
"Remember Lot's wife."
She looked back. She loved Sodom too much to leave it cleanly. She became a pillar of salt.
"Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it."
"One will be taken"
"I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left."
The disciples ask: "Where, Lord?"
He answers:
"Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
The Savior for All is coming again — suddenly, decisively, irreversibly. The chapter ends with a sober reminder: be ready. Do not look back.
Closing prayer
Father, give us mustard-seed faith — small but genuine — that uproots trees and forgives offenders seven times a day. Save us from the nine who walked on, and make us the Samaritan who turned back to give thanks. Open our eyes to see that Your Kingdom is in our midst — and prepare us for the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In Jesus' name, amen.
