February 27, 2021
4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial. – Luke 11:4
Forgive us, as we forgive others. This is a powerful, yet difficult task. It’s true that we all wish to be treated with grace, respect, and dignity; however, it is sometimes difficult for us to return the same to others. The path of wisdom Jesus imparts to his followers in their prayers, to acknowledge God has holy, the seek to do God’s will alone, to have what they need only for today, leads them to also understand that when they are forgiven, they must also forgive.
In Matthew’s gospel, and in the teaching known as the “Sermon on the Mount,” this portion of the Lord’s prayer is the only part to be given greater emphasis or explanation. Jesus tells his followers: 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Let’s be real for a moment. How often do we truly forgive a person who seeks forgiveness from us? Often we might say it depends upon the wrong that is done. Was it an accident, was it on purpose, did it affect us emotionally, physically, spiritually? The ease of our forgiveness is based upon how badly we were wronged.
Is that how we want our Loving, Forgiving, All-knowing, All-powerful, God to forgive us? Do we want God to rank our wrong doings according to how badly we went against His Law?
Of course we do! We do it all the time, we compare ourselves with other sinners, and say: “well at lease I’m not like ” (fill in the blank).
This never gets us to the heart of the matter, it only puts us in the position of a Pharisee or Sadducee, neither of which were in high regards to Jesus.
Instead, we need to look the woman who anointed and washed Jesus feet with her own tears, weeping in grief over her own sin, her own wrong-doings, and drying His feet with her own hair.
Do you remember the words Jesus said to her and the guests of the house that night? Luke 7 recounts the story and we hear Jesus words: “her many sins have been forgiven as her great love has shown. But whoever been forgiven little loves little.” Then he told the woman her sins were forgiven. What a beautiful thing to hear, that your sins are forgive. That the wrong that you have done is forgiven. What love wells up in our souls when we sit and know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we have been forgiven of the wrong we have done.
The call to forgive as we have been forgiven is a call to love as we have been loved. It’s a call that we need to break down the barriers that we have built up between us and another, that we might find peace, and offer it the same.
Grace & Peace,
Sam