One man bears hatred against another, and does he seek pardon from the Lord?
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 28:3 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 28
John Chrysostom
AD 407
If it is not right to trample on those who are chastised by God but to grieve with them, much more is it the case with those who have sinned against us. For this is love"s sign; God prefers love to all things. For as in making the royal purple, the flowers and dyes that make up the color of the robe are considered the most precious, so here too, those virtues are the most precious that preserve love. But nothing maintains love so much as when we do not remember those who have sinned against us. But why? Did he not guard the other side as well? Why? Did he not drive the one that has done the wrong to the person who is wronged? Does he not send him from the altar to go and meet the other person, and after the reconciliation then invite him to the table? But do not, therefore, wait for the other to come, since if you do so, you have lost everything. For to this intent most especially does he appoint to you an unspeakable reward, that you be the first to act before the other, since, if you are reconciled by his entreaties, the love is no longer the result of the divine command but of the other party"s diligence. This is why you go away uncrowned while he receives the rewards.
What are you saying? Do you have an enemy and you are not ashamed? Why, isn"t the devil enough of an enemy for us that we have to bring on ourselves those of our own race as well? Would that not even he had been minded to wage war against us! Would that not even he were a devil! Don"t you know how great the pleasure is after reconciliation? For it does not appear great at all when we are at enmity. But it is sweeter to love someone who does us wrong than to hate him. That is what we learn after the enmity is done away with. Why then do we imitate the mad, devouring one another, warring against our own flesh? Hear even under the Old Testament how great regard there was for this: "The ways of vengeful people lead to death." One person keeps his anger against another, and does he seek the healing of God? And yet God allowed an "eye for an eye" and a "tooth for a tooth," so how then does he find fault?" Because he allowed even those things, not that we should do them to one another, but so that through the fear of suffering we might abstain from the commission of a crime. And besides, those acts are the fruits of a short-lived anger, but to remember injuries is the part of a soul that exercises itself in evil. But have you suffered evil? And yet, it was nothing so great as you will do to yourself by remembering injuries.
