The nature of reproach and shame

Men do this thing quickly. 'I was forgotten' therefore 'from the heart.' They cast me out from their own heart; for he did not have me purely as the apostle says, 'but Christ lives in me' (Galatians 2:20). I no longer lived in them. When anyone having the word in himself no longer works according to it, he rejects the amount of the word in him, and it becomes in his forgetfulness. But hear about forgetfulness thus: not as not knowing that he once had it; for many such things are said both in common usage and in the Scripture. For many times indeed we say to friends, 'You have already forgotten me,' not saying this, that 'you have no memory at all.' But the Scripture says: 'The evil of a time causes forgetfulness of pleasure.' Now the one, having been harmed by pleasure, forgets the time. And again: 'and they shall forget,' he says, 'their former tribulation, and it shall not ascend again upon their heart.' Thus you think, that the one having come out of tribulation forgets it.

Furthermore: 'I have become a reproach to all my enemies' (Psalm 69:8); he did not say 'to all men,' but 'to my enemies.' And enemies are not just bad men who justify, but enemies by disposition; for he himself is an enemy to no one, but many are enemies to him. 'Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word; say, brothers, to those who hate you' (Isaiah 43:26; Luke 6:28). They hate and are enemies. And you, he says, call them 'brothers' not by voice, nor by utterance, but by disposition, or you demonstrate toward brothers by a disposition of brotherly love. And this is enmity: to have an opposing disposition. If even the Savior says this—let us say that it can be said from the person of the Savior as a man—he says the Jews have become his enemies. But not all have become his enemies; for the apostles also were Jews, they were Israelites. He did not therefore say 'to all the Hebrews, to all the Israelites,' but 'I have become a reproach to my enemies.' They reproach the righteous...

Not according to the first reading. Even the Savior is reproached by the wicked. Not every reproach brings a boast to the one reproached. There are times when those reproaching are themselves refuted, and again, those reproached because of sin.

Indeed, in the writing of Proverbs, it is said to the wise man: 'Do not acquire the reproach of wicked men' (Proverbs 22:8). By adding 'of wicked men,' it showed that even serious men are a reproach. For instance, the disciples rejoice when they are reproached. These are not the reproaches for which the apostles are refuted, namely, the reproaches of wicked men.

Furthermore, since it is up to us to do things worthy of reproach, it commands: 'Do not acquire the reproach of wicked men, nor envy their ways' (Proverbs 22:8); for he who envies their practices and their thoughts has become a bad man, having acquired a reproach of evils. Concerning this reproach, it is said that some rise up 'unto reproach and eternal shame.' But not all rise up 'unto reproach and eternal shame,' but those who seem to be good in that place. When those considered serious and holy men rise up and the shames of their soul are revealed, these rise up unto reproach; for those who are openly evil do not rise up unto reproach, but unto punishment.

And if the Savior says this, he calls the cross a reproach; for this is what the apostle taught: 'The reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen upon me' (2 Corinthians 12:5). Again: 'Who, despising the shame, endured the cross instead of the joy set before him' (Hebrews 12:2). Reproach and shame are the same thing. And see how much it reached him, that joy was set before him, a man not having sin. Therefore he despised the shame, he trampled it.

Reproach does not happen from friends and those having the same virtue, but from enemies. Consider, therefore, the reproaches which they bring against the Lordly Man: 'Do we not speak well, saying, You are a Samaritan and have a demon?' (John 8:48). Not serious men offered this to him...