Commentary on Luke (Greek fragments) 17.4–17.34

“If he sins against you seven times in the day,” and so on (17:4). “If the one who sinned against you turns,” he says, “and condemns himself, you shall forgive him”—and not once, but very many times. For if someone is weak, and that often, we must not for that reason be seen to be without love for one another and neglectful of long-suffering; we must rather imitate the physicians of bodily sufferings, who treat the sick man not once or twice, but rather as many times as he happens to fall ill. For let us consider that we too are in weaknesses and are overcome by passions; and when we suffer this, we pray that those who have the duty of rebuking us and the authority to punish may be kind and bear us no grudge. We must, then, condescending to one another’s weaknesses, “bear one another’s burdens; for so we shall fulfil the law of Christ.” Observe that in Matthew Peter asks and says: “How often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” But here the Lord says to the apostles: “Even if he sins seven times in the day”—that is, often—“and as often condemns himself, you shall forgive him.” “The apostles said to the Lord: Increase our faith” (17:5).

What gladdens the soul of all the saints is not the possession of temporary and earthly things—for these are perishable and easily lost—but rather of those that make those who receive them venerable and blessed. These are, clearly, the God-given and spiritual gifts; and one of them, and an excellent one, is faith, or steadfastness in faith in Christ the Saviour of us all. Paul too knows it to be the chief of the good things in us; indeed he said: “Without faith it is impossible ever to please him.” For by it the elders received their testimony. Observe, then, the holy apostles, who had become imitators of the more ancient saints: for what do they ask of Christ? “Increase our faith.” They do not ask simply for faith, lest you should think them unbelievers; rather they ask Christ for an increase of faith, that is, its confirmation. For of faith, one part is in our power, and the other is given by divine grace. For it is in our power to make the beginning and to have trust and faith in him with all our strength; but its confirmation and strength belong to divine grace. Therefore, since all things are possible with God, the Lord says that all things are possible to him who believes; for the power that comes to us through faith is God’s. Knowing this, the blessed Paul too says in the First Letter to the Corinthians: “For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit.” Do you see how he placed faith too in the list of the spiritual gifts? The disciples asked to receive this from the Saviour, bringing in their own; and he gave it to them after the fulfilment of the economy, through the coming of the Holy Spirit. For before the resurrection their faith was so little settled that they were subject to charges of little faith. … a longing that carries us toward righteousness would come to be in us from God the Father. Indeed the Saviour of all once sailed with the holy apostles on the lake, or sea, of Tiberias, and by design he gave himself to sleep; and when a violent wind stirred up the surge and raised a hard wave against the boat, they were greatly troubled, so that they even woke the Lord, saying: “Master, save us, we are perishing.” He arose, it says, rebuked the surge and changed the savagery of the storm into calm. And he blamed the holy apostles strongly, saying: “Where is your faith?” For they ought not to have been troubled in any way at all, when the Master of all was with them, before whom all his works tremble and shake. And if I must bring forward something else like the first, I will speak again. He commanded the holy apostles to get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side of the lake; and they did so without delay. Having rowed about thirty stadia, it says, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and they became terrified, thinking that what they saw was a phantom. Then he called out to them, saying: “It is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter said: “If it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And he said: “Come.” And leaping down from the boat he began to walk; but when he saw, it says, the wind and the wave, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out: “Lord, help me.” He saved him in his danger, but blamed him again, saying: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” That at the time of the passion, when the band of soldiers and the unholy servants came to arrest Jesus, all left him and fled, and that Peter too denied him when one servant girl unsettled him, is not unclear. You saw the disciples still of little faith; marvel at them when they have received an increase of faith from Christ the Saviour of us all. “He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, until they were clothed with power from on high.” And when the power from on high—that is, the grace through the Holy Spirit—came down upon them in the form of fiery tongues, then, yes then, they became bold and vigorous and fervent in spirit, so as to despise death and count as nothing the terrors brought on them by unbelievers; and then they became workers of signs. That firmness in faith is something great and excellent, the Lord shows by saying: “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed”—that is, warm and fervent—“you would say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you.” For he who trusts in Christ does not take courage in his own power, but rather ascribes to him the power to accomplish all things. The perfection of all good things in souls, then, admittedly comes from him; yet we must prepare ourselves to become receptive of such grace. For if the power of faith moves what is fixed and rooted in the earth, one might say in general that nothing is so immovable that faith could not shake it, if it needed to be moved. So the earth was shaken when the apostles prayed, as the Acts of the Apostles relate. Clearly faith also does the opposite, and stops things that are moving, such as the swiftest current of a river and the unceasing course of the luminaries moving in heaven.

This, however, must be firmly attended to: God does not cause empty astonishment or idle wonder; such things are far from the divine essence, which is free of conceit and boasting and wholly true; he acts altogether for the benefit and salvation of human beings. I say this so that no one may seek from the divine power useless movements of elements, as it may be, or removals of mountains or plants; nor be impious, as though the word were false if these things do not happen so; nor, again, think there is a weakness in faith if it does not effect these things. But let there be what is useful for true benefit, and the power will not be lacking. “Which of you, having a servant ploughing or keeping sheep?” (17:7).

In what has already passed, a long and extended discourse has been completed by him, pointing out the paths of good repute and displaying the glories of a blameless life, so that, coming through them and advancing with great eagerness toward every admirable thing, we may arrive at the prize of the upward call. But since the human mind is somehow always naturally inclined to be carried down into love of glory, and very readily falls sick with this tendency—and often the occasion of the passion is being in good repute with God for some of the noblest achievements; and this is most grievous and hateful to God, for the dragon, the author of evil, sometimes brings some to such a frame of mind that they think perhaps that God even owes them the highest honours when they lead a glorious and approved life—so that he may free us from such passions, he makes the force of the present passages serve as an example. For he teaches through them that the power of a master’s authority everywhere requires submission from servants as a debt. For the master, he says, will not acknowledge thanks to the servant, even if everything that ought to be done is done by him as befits his servitude. Here, I pray, see the disciples—that is, all who lie under the sceptre of Christ the Saviour of us all—sharpened toward diligence, rendering their service to him not as a favour but paying submission, which befits servants, as a debt. And through this the disease of accursed love of glory is also done away with. For if you do what is owed, why do you think highly of yourself? Do you not see that for one who does not pay what is owed there is danger, but for one who pays it, no thanks? The admirable servant Paul understood and learned this well: “If I preach the gospel,” he says, “I have nothing to boast of; for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” And again: “I am a debtor of the proclamation of the teaching, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.” If, then, you have become approved, have kept the divine commandments and obeyed the Master, do not demand honours from God as a debt, but rather approach asking for what comes from his generosity. Consider that our masters do not acknowledge thanks when some of their servants carry out the service assigned to them; yet often, out of generosity winning the goodwill of their faithful servants, they beget in them a fuller eagerness. So God too demands service of us, using the right of his lordship; but since he is good and generous, he also promises rewards to those who toil; and the greatness of his generosity far outstrips the sweat of those under his yoke. Paul will confirm it, writing: “The sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” And though they are servants, he calls them sons and crowns them with the honour fitting children.

See that one must first plough one’s own flesh, and so shepherd one another. “For if someone does not know how to manage his own household well, how will he care for the church of God?”

“Ten lepers met him” (17:12). Again the Saviour makes his own glory manifest to us, and through his works of majesty befitting God he comes to draw the senseless Israel into the net of faith. But it too was hard and disobedient. What word, then, will help them on the day of judgement, since they did not endure to receive the salvation through Christ, especially since they themselves heard his words and were spectators of his marvellous works beyond reason? Indeed he said of them: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin.” And again: “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have seen both me and my Father.” A clear proof of what I said just now will be the cleansing of the lepers. For these were driven out of cities and villages as unclean, according to the law of Moses. These things, then, have been said sufficiently beforehand, I think. The lepers, meeting the Saviour, begged to be freed from the evil, and called him Master, that is, teacher.

No one had pity on them as they suffered the disease; but he who appeared on earth for this very reason, and became man to have mercy on all, himself was moved with compassion and pitied them. “He said to them: Go and show yourselves to the priests” (17:14). And why did he not rather say, “I will; be cleansed,” as in the case of another leper, but commanded them instead to show themselves to the priests? Again the law called those freed from leprosy to this; for it ordered them to show themselves to the priests and to offer a sacrifice for their cleansing. As men already healed, then, he ordered them to go, and in some way to bear witness to the priests, that is, the leaders of the Jews, who were always envious of his glory, that beyond hope and wonderfully they had been freed from the evil, Christ granting them healing. He did not heal first, but sent them to the priests, since the priests knew the signs of leprosy and of when it is healed; he sent them to the priests, and sent the healing along with them. About these things, however—what the law of leprosy is, what pertains to the cleansing, and what each of the enactments meant—we have spoken more fully at the beginning of the Saviour’s miracles in Luke; referring those who love learning there, let us go on to what follows. The nine, being Jews, fell into ungrateful forgetfulness and did not return to give glory to God; hence he shows Israel to be altogether hard-hearted and unmindful. But the foreigner, that is, the Samaritan—a foreigner because his race derives from Assyria (for not in vain does it say, “through the midst of Samaria and Galilee”)—returned to glorify God with a loud voice. So he shows that Samaritans are grateful, while Jews, even when they are benefited, are ungrateful. “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming” (17:20).

That the Lord would come at the appointed times in our form the prophets proclaimed beforehand, and it has been fulfilled; for he appeared to those on earth, taking the form of a servant, while being even so in natural lordship, and in authority and glory befitting God. For the brilliance of his achievements showed him to us as such. But you did not believe in him, foolish Pharisee; you did not accept the justification he gives. How, then, do you ask when the kingdom of God is coming? He mocks the mystery, so venerable and truly admirable. For since the Saviour of all, in his discourses to everyone, everywhere made mention of the kingdom of God, the wretches deride it; or perhaps, having it in mind that he would endure death on the tree, caught in the net of their perversities for this, they mock and say: “When is the kingdom of God coming?”—as if to say, “Before the kingdom you speak of, a cross and death will take you.” What, then, does Christ say to this? He shows again his patience and his incomparable love for humankind; for “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten.” So he does not rebuke them sharply; but, since they were wicked, he does not count them worthy of a proper answer to their question, except that alone which, he says, is for the benefit of every human being: “The kingdom of God is within you; it does not come with observation.” “Do not ask about times,” he says, “at which he will shine forth again, that is, when the time of the kingdom of heaven will arrive; rather be eager to attain it; for it is within you,” that is, it lies in your choices and in your power to receive it. For it is possible for every human being who has become rich in justification in Christ—through faith, clearly—and made bright by every virtue, to attain the kingdom of heaven. In actuality it is outside those from whose heart evil reasonings come forth; but in potential it is within all. For that the kingdom of God was within even the Pharisees, though they did not know it and thought that it would come at some time to a place from outside, John shows when he says of Christ: “Among you stands one whom you do not know.” “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it” (17:22).

In saying these things he wants them to be ready for everything that naturally causes grief, and to prepare themselves beforehand for endurance, so that, having been approved, they may be able to enter the kingdom of God. He announces beforehand, then, that before his coming from heaven, which will be at the consummation of the age, tribulation and persecution will come on, so that they will desire to see one day of his—that is, one day of the time when they still lived and spent their days with Christ. And yet the wickedness of the Jews against him was very great; for they threw stones at him; they persecuted him not once but very many times; they led him to the brow of the hill to throw him down; they grieved him with insults and false accusations; and there was no kind of perversity the Jews did not practise. How, then, did he say that the disciples would desire to see one day of his? By comparison with the evils that surpass them, the lesser are somehow preferable; for after his ascension they experienced greater tribulations. “For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven,” and so on (17:24).

But he declared that he will come down from heaven, not obscurely or imperceptibly, but in glory befitting God, dwelling in unapproachable light, by saying that his coming will be like lightning. For he was born according to the flesh and of a woman to fulfil the economy toward us; and for this reason he emptied himself and humbled himself, and was not manifestly in the glory of the Godhead; for the time and the need of the economy called for this. But after the resurrection from the dead, having flown up to heaven and sat with God the Father, he will come down again, not in diminished glory nor in human meanness, but in the Father’s excellence, a multitude of angels escorting him and standing by him as God and Lord of all. He will come, then, like lightning, and not secretly. And no one is to be believed who says, “Look, here; look, there.” He cuts away another suspicion from the disciples’ hearts; for they thought that, having travelled about Judea and then come to Jerusalem, he would at once display the kingdom of God; indeed they came to him saying: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And the mother of the sons of Zebedee too, expecting this to happen, came asking for seats. So that they might know, then, that he must first undergo the saving passion, abolish death by the death of his own flesh, remove sin from the world, and abolish the ruler of this age, and then ascend to the Father and shine forth at the appointed times to judge the world in righteousness, he says that he must first suffer many things. That he will shine forth unexpectedly, as it were with no one knowing, and the end of the present age will arrive, he shows by saying that the consummation will be as it was in the days of Noah and Lot. They lived in luxury, he says, without care: they ate, they drank, they sold, they bought, they built. But the rush of waters destroyed the one, and the others became the work and food of divine fire. What, then, is shown by this? He wishes us to be awake always, and ready for our defence before the divine judgement seat. “In that day, whoever is on the housetop, with his goods in the house,” and so on (17:31).

He commands us to disregard every earthly and passing thing, and to look to one aim: that each must save his own soul. “Whoever, then, is on the housetop,” he says, “let him not come down into the house to take his goods.” By this he seems to wish to indicate the one who lives in ease and wealth and worldly distinction; for those standing on housetops are always somehow conspicuous to those around the house. “If, then, anyone is such,” he says, “let him take no account, at that time, of the goods stored in the house; for these are useless and contribute nothing to his benefit.” “For treasures do not profit the lawless,” as it is written, “but righteousness delivers from death.” “But even if someone is in the field,” he says, “let him not turn back”—that is, if someone is found engaged in diligence and labours, tending spiritual fruitfulness and gathering the wages of good things from his sweat, let him not turn back; for, as Christ himself said again somewhere, “No one who puts his hand to the plough and turns back is fit for the kingdom of heaven.” For we must hold to the sacred pursuits with impulses that never turn back, so that we may not suffer what the woman in Sodom happened to suffer; taking her as an example he says: “Remember Lot’s wife.” For having gone out of Sodom and then turned back, she became a pillar of salt, that is, she was made foolish and turned to stone. We must, then, hold vigorously to the aim set before us.

“Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it” (17:33). How someone loses his own life in order to save it, or in what way the one who thought he was saving it loses it, Paul will make clear when he says about the saints: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” For those who have truly become genuine to Christ our Saviour crucify their own flesh, that is, put it to death—engaging, clearly, in labours and in the contests for piety, and mortifying its mind. For it is written: “Put to death your members that are on the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness.” Those, then, who are put to death for these things have saved their own life; but those who love the pleasure-loving life perhaps think they are gaining their own life, yet they altogether lose it. “For he who sows to the flesh,” he says, “will from the flesh reap corruption.” And in another way too, one who has lost his own life will altogether save it: the blessed martyrs did this, enduring contests to the point of life and blood, and binding on their own heads, like a crown, the genuineness of their love for Christ. But those who from an unmanly soul and mind denied the faith and escaped the immediate death of the flesh have become the murderers of their own souls; for they will go down to Hades and pay the penalty for their cowardice.

“On this night there will be two on one bed; the one will be taken and the other left” (17:34). He calls the time of judgement night, I think because of the unclearness and unexpectedness of his coming. By the two on one bed he seems to hint at those in ease and wealth, sharing an equal lot with one another as to being in worldly comforts; for a bed is a symbol of rest. “But one of them,” he says, “will be taken and one is left.” How, or in what way? For not all who have been in wealth and ease in this life have been wicked and harsh. For what? If someone is rich but kind and compassionate and right in faith, he is taken; but the other, as not having been such, will be left. By the women grinding he seems to indicate those in poverty and toils; but among these too, he says, there is a great difference. For those who bear the burden of poverty nobly and live soberly and reasonably will be taken, being clearly righteous; but those who are not such, but rather clever at wrongdoing and practitioners of every baseness, will be left, to be subjected to the penalty by fire. There will be, then, among them too a very full and exact testing of character; and the good will be taken, but the one who is not such will be left.

When he said “will be taken,” the disciples usefully and necessarily ask: “Where, Lord? And he said to them: Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” And what is this? From a common and most obvious fact he hints at a great and deep mystery. And what is it? He will come down from heaven to judge the world in righteousness; but he himself, he says, will send his angels, and they will choose the righteous and holy from among the sinners and bring them to him; but the others they leave on earth, clearly to be punished. The all-wise Paul indicates something of this kind, writing: “For I say to you that we who are alive, who are left, will not precede those who have fallen asleep; but he will sound the trumpet, and the dead in Christ will rise incorruptible, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and we who are alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.” As, then, when a dead body lies, the carrion birds run together to it, so when the Son of Man arrives, then all the eagles—that is, those who fly on high and are lifted above earthly and worldly things—will run together to him.