Healing Rays of Righteousness

I think it is significant that the word “And” links our first petition “Give us today our daily bread” to this petition for God to “forgive us our debts.” It seems to me that Jesus intended for us to understand that just as our physical person cannot live without the bread that God gives, neither can our spiritual person survive without the forgiveness that God alone can give. No less important than bread for our bodies is forgiveness for our sins. Like daily bread, we need God’s daily grace and forgiveness in our lives.

To pray “Forgive us our debts.” is to affirm that God is our Savior and will forgive our sins. You and I both know that we cannot live a single day without sinning either by not doing what we know we should be doing, or by doing what we know we should not be doing. To pray “Forgive us our debts” is to confess and repent of our wrongdoing, being confident that God greatly loves us and will completely forgive us through Jesus’ death in our behalf. What amazing love and grace this is given us!

In this prayer sin is spoken of as a “debt” we owe God. Because God created us and so loves us, we owe God everything. Specifically, we owe God love and honor as his adopted children and willing obedience as his servants. We sin when we do not give what is owed to God. We become indebted to God and need to ask God to forgive this debt, whether little or huge.

Rather than the word “debt” Luke uses the word “sin” in his version of this prayer (Luke 11:4). Matthew also uses the word “sin” in 6:14-15. It was not uncommon in Jesus’ day to use a financial metaphor for sin and forgiveness, as seen in his parable about the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-35.

This parable also underscores the importance of the second part of the prayer which teaches us the need to examine our relationship with others. In the first part of this petition we ask God to do something for us – “forgive us our debts/sins” and we promise to always be forgiving toward those who harm us in some way. Jesus clearly states that this response of forgiving others is required of us if our plea for God’s forgiveness is to be heard and granted.

Forgive “as we also have forgiven” doesn’t mean God is to forgive like we forgive or that he must do so. It’s the other way around. God’s forgiveness precedes and underlies our forgiveness of one another, as is seen in Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant.

“Forgiveness” as used in Scripture means “to release” someone from an obligation or debt, whether legal, financial or moral. Have you ever had a financial debt you couldn’t pay? One with disastrous consequences? Can you imagine having it forgiven? Well that’s what sin and forgiveness is like. That’s the picture this request uses.

Jesus insists that our receiving forgiveness from God is connected to our forgiving relationship with those who wronged us. Our unwillingness to forgive those who deeply hurt or abused us, cancels out God’s forgiveness and blessing in our own life. This is the ultimate sin and Jesus made this a matter of great importance and consequence. Forgiveness opens the door to relationships, both with God and with other people. Loving and forgiving is not always easy, but it is always essential.

It is very apparent that our society is more focused on retaliation and “getting even” than it is about forgiveness. And neither does it care much about the destructiveness of unforgiveness. This in turn has caused unforgiveness to be one of the major contributors to the destruction of relationships in our families, churches, and communities.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we know that the call to forgiveness is not necessarily practical or realistic. Nevertheless, we forgive because God forgave us through Jesus Christ and to be obedient to him is to be forgiving like him. We forgive because this faithful imitation is the most appropriate way to show our gratitude to God and indeed to worship God.

To pray the Lord’s Prayer is to admit that we are sinners. We pray, not as righteous people, but as forgiven sinners. And in the Lord’s prayer we find the consolation of God’s forgiveness. Forgiving others is the inevitable result of knowing and deeply appreciating God’s forgiveness.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – March 18, 2020
http://www.geigler13.wordpress.com
Ray M. Geigley