NOTES for Luk 17:3-4
How many times should you forgive a person who has done you harm? How far must mercy and forgiveness extend? In other words, what measure of forgiveness will be sufficient? For people formed by the law, this question looks natural, and so the disciples ask it of Christ. The evangelist Matthew in chapter 18 reports a similar question from Peter; the evangelist Luke in today's reading also transmits Christ's words about forgiving seven times, without mentioning the question.
To understand what the Lord says, it is important to keep in mind that "seven" is a number symbolizing every fullness, and this was well known to Christ's disciples. In essence, the Lord rejects the Jewish idea of a "measure" of forgiveness. Forgiveness, mercy, and compassion toward people, including those who do us harm, can never be sufficient. We have no possibility of ceasing to forgive on the grounds that we have already done so a certain number of times. This is what today's words of Christ are about: "if he sins seven times in a day... and seven times turns back... forgive him." This is what Matthew's words, "not... up to seven, but up to seventy times seven," are about. This is what the commandment to love enemies is about. Relationships between people are not built on weighing debts and forgiveness. The Gospel as a whole considers forgiveness of people our duty, but not before people; before God. That is the whole point.
The Lord speaks about this many times. The clearest illustration is His parable of the unmerciful creditor, which He told in response to Peter's question about how many times to forgive. In practice this is very important, because fulfilling Christ's words about repeated and constant forgiveness is hard. Moreover, as the Lord Himself says, "with men this is impossible." But if we forgive not by our own human strength, not because we have to grit our teeth and fulfill the commandment, but for the sake of faithfulness to God, regardless of those whom we forgive, then this becomes for us an encounter with God Himself.
The evangelist Luke transmits an important word of Christ about this, one very difficult to translate. Before the commandment to forgive always and repeatedly, the Lord says to the disciples: "Take heed to yourselves" (such is the Synodal translation). The Slavonic text offers the version "Attend to yourselves," and the Vulgate renders the expression with the words "adtendite vobis." The Greek prosehete heautois includes two main shades of meaning. This expression chiefly means "watch yourselves, pay attention to yourselves." It is a call to reflection, to analysis of one's actions, decisions, and experiences. The Lord calls the disciples to look into themselves so that forgiveness will not be for them a calculated payment for people's actions, but an encounter with God acting in their lives.
But the Greek expression cited by the evangelist also has another shade of meaning, one not missed by blessed Jerome and noticeable in translations that follow the Vulgate. One can try to render this shade with the words "Hold firm, make an effort, gather yourselves." "Brace yourselves" - that is very important. The forgiveness of which the Lord speaks is not a "state of soul" in which forgiveness happens "by itself." It is labor that requires collectedness and effort. When Christians say that the Church is the army of Christ, forgiveness is the front line of the battle in which this army is called to take part. And it is important for us to watch ourselves and remember that forgiveness is not a payment we bring to people and not a sacrifice to God; it is a miracle that God works in us.