The Lord's Prayer, Part Two
I recently wrote on the Lord's Prayer, specifically on “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven” and the need for those who would follow Jesus to work to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth. There's a second part of the Lord's Prayer I'd like to talk about:
“Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” (Matthew 6:12 ASV)
Various translations use “debts” or “trespasses” in place of “sins.” But that's not the pertinent word here. The pertinent word is “as.” The dictionary definition of “as” is:
To the same extent or degree; equally.
So, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we are really saying:
“Forgive us our sins, to the same extent or degree we forgive those who have sinned against us.”
If this doesn't make it perfectly clear that we are to be forgiven only to the extent we have forgiven others, Jesus goes on to say:
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15 ASV)
Ouch. Count on Jesus to spell it out for us in no uncertain terms.
Forgiving people is hard. When someone has done you wrong, when you have suffered at another's hands, it seems natural to want to “get even.” It seems natural to hold a grudge against those who do us wrong. But this is not what Jesus tells us to do. Jesus tells us to forgive those who have done us wrong, and even goes so far as to say that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.
So what do we do when we find it hard to forgive? I wish I had all the answers. I am still having a hard time forgiving the people involved in an incident that took place several years ago. It helps to remember that I have also wronged others, and of course I want them to forgive me. So, the Golden Rule applies here: “Whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them.” (Matthew 7:12 ISV)
Prayer can help, too. If God wants us to forgive, it seems reasonable that he would expect us to call on him for the strength to forgive, and that he would give that strength.
Perhaps forgiving can be made easier if we remember that the primary beneficiary of forgiveness is the forgiver, not the forgiven. When we have been wronged, we carry the memory of that wrong, and its pain, with us. When we forgive, although we still have the memory of being wronged, we can leave behind the pain associated with it. As theologian Lewis B. Smedes tells us, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
Remember that forgiving doesn't always come easily, and that you may have to forgive someone more than once. If you find yourself feeling the same resentments and pain again, maybe you need to “re-forgive.” Remember too, that forgiving does not always heal the relationship. Some relationships cannot be healed, probably some relationships should not be. But forgiveness will always heal the forgiver, and open the way to forgiveness for ourselves.
I think we often say the Lord's Prayer by rote, without really thinking of what it means. Jesus only taught us how to pray once, when he gave us what we know as the Lord's Prayer. It seems to me that if Jesus only taught us one prayer, we should give more consideration to it; we should examine it to see what else is in it. Before the next time you say the Lords' Prayer, think about what the words really mean. Is there anything else in the Lord's Prayer that you've been missing? What actions do the words of the Lord's Prayer call you to?
“Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” (Matthew 6:12 ASV)
Various translations use “debts” or “trespasses” in place of “sins.” But that's not the pertinent word here. The pertinent word is “as.” The dictionary definition of “as” is:
To the same extent or degree; equally.
So, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we are really saying:
“Forgive us our sins, to the same extent or degree we forgive those who have sinned against us.”
If this doesn't make it perfectly clear that we are to be forgiven only to the extent we have forgiven others, Jesus goes on to say:
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15 ASV)
Ouch. Count on Jesus to spell it out for us in no uncertain terms.
Forgiving people is hard. When someone has done you wrong, when you have suffered at another's hands, it seems natural to want to “get even.” It seems natural to hold a grudge against those who do us wrong. But this is not what Jesus tells us to do. Jesus tells us to forgive those who have done us wrong, and even goes so far as to say that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.
So what do we do when we find it hard to forgive? I wish I had all the answers. I am still having a hard time forgiving the people involved in an incident that took place several years ago. It helps to remember that I have also wronged others, and of course I want them to forgive me. So, the Golden Rule applies here: “Whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them.” (Matthew 7:12 ISV)
Prayer can help, too. If God wants us to forgive, it seems reasonable that he would expect us to call on him for the strength to forgive, and that he would give that strength.
Perhaps forgiving can be made easier if we remember that the primary beneficiary of forgiveness is the forgiver, not the forgiven. When we have been wronged, we carry the memory of that wrong, and its pain, with us. When we forgive, although we still have the memory of being wronged, we can leave behind the pain associated with it. As theologian Lewis B. Smedes tells us, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
Remember that forgiving doesn't always come easily, and that you may have to forgive someone more than once. If you find yourself feeling the same resentments and pain again, maybe you need to “re-forgive.” Remember too, that forgiving does not always heal the relationship. Some relationships cannot be healed, probably some relationships should not be. But forgiveness will always heal the forgiver, and open the way to forgiveness for ourselves.
I think we often say the Lord's Prayer by rote, without really thinking of what it means. Jesus only taught us how to pray once, when he gave us what we know as the Lord's Prayer. It seems to me that if Jesus only taught us one prayer, we should give more consideration to it; we should examine it to see what else is in it. Before the next time you say the Lords' Prayer, think about what the words really mean. Is there anything else in the Lord's Prayer that you've been missing? What actions do the words of the Lord's Prayer call you to?
posted by Jim Allyn at 5/26/2007 10:08:00 PM
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