Fathers

Luke 17

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He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table,’ and will not rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not. Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’ ” As he was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance. They lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” As they went, they were cleansed. 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. Jesus answered, “Weren’t the ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.” Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.” He said to the disciples, “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. They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them, for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. As it was in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all. It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who will be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it. I tell you, in 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.” They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.”

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What the Fathers say

Luke 17:20

Eastern Fathers

Gregory of Nyssa

Or, perhaps, the kingdom of God being within us, means that joy that is implanted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. For that is, as it were, the image and pledge of the everlasting joy with which in the world to come the souls of the Saints rejoice.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Cyril of Alexandria

Because our Saviour, in His discourses which He addressed to others, spake often of the kingdom of God, the Pharisees derided Him; hence it is said, And when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come. As though they said tauntingly, "Before the kingdom of God come, which Thou speakest of, the death of the cross will be Thy lot." But our Lord testifying His patience, when reviled reviles not again, but the rather because they were evil, returns not a scornful answer; for it follows, He answered and said, The …

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

The Lord often mentioned the Kingdom of God in His teaching. But the Pharisees, upon hearing of it, laughed at the Lord and therefore approached with the question of when it would come, by way of mocking Him as an eccentric preaching about an extraordinary and strange subject. For none of the former teachers and prophets had mentioned it (the Kingdom of God). …

Commentary on Luke ↗

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

Asked by the disciples when the kingdom of God would come, the Lord said, "The kingdom of God is within you," through the truth of grace and not through the slavery of guilt. Let those that would be free be servants in the Lord. As we share in service, we also share in the kingdom. He said, "The kingdom of God is within you." He would not say when it would come. He said there would be a day of judgment, so that he instilled in all terror of the judgment to come, and he did not add the guarantee of its postponement.

Commentary on Luke ↗

Bede

And being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said: "The kingdom of God does not come with observation." They ask about the time of the kingdom of God, because as below Luke revealed, they thought that the kingdom of God would immediately be manifested when the Lord came to Jerusalem. …

On the Gospel of Luke ↗

Bonaventure

And being asked by the Pharisees, etc. The two principal parts having been concluded, in which the deceitfulness and impiety of the Jews has been refuted, and by way of contrast simplicity and piety have been commended: here follows the third part, in which curiosity is refuted. …

Commentary on Luke, Chapter 17 ↗