Expressing Forgiveness Through the Lord's Prayer
Expressing Forgiveness Through the Lord’s Prayer
The disciples noted that Jesus Christ often went away by Himself to pray and when He returned, He could perform many miracles of healing, feeding, deliverance and salvation. The time Jesus Christ spent in communion with His Father God while here on earth, strengthened and empowered Him to do the will of the One who sent Him. He was empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Our liturgy of prayer should not be practiced repetition of words but our earnest desire and willingness to use the template of the Lord’s Prayer, like a writing frame to which we can personalise the development of our growing relationship with our Father God and to be in a position where we can actively fulfil His will and not our own. Jesus knew where the source of His daily bread came from and said:
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” John 4 v 34
This is what He said to his disciples at the well of Samaria. He craved spiritual food and nourishment even more than he craved natural food. Jesus Christ knew His purpose and how to achieve it successfully because He looked to God as His source and resource. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we should do the same through the application of the Lord’s Prayer. Just like lessons that are learnt in school, there is a hope and an expectation that we can apply the theory of that prayer and put it into practice in our everyday lives. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray this is what He said:
“So then, this is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6 v 9 – 13
“Jesus immediately followed up by saying: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.” Matthew 6 v 14 – 15.
We see in verses fourteen and fifteen that Jesus Christ stressed again the importance of showing genuine forgiveness towards others. It is not optional! It is a challenge to our attitude, our mindset, and our heart. You cannot want mercy for yourself while simultaneously denying mercy to others. That does not please our Father God. In the gospel of Matthew, Peter – a disciple of Jesus, asked Him a question that we may have asked in our times of agitation, frustration and wanting to express our own form of justification:
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered: “I tell you, not just even times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18 v 21 – 22
We pray that we will see the Kingdom of God on earth just as it is in heaven. Jesus Christ illustrated the Kingdom of God through the parable of the unforgiving servant, who was himself forgiven and set free from the weight of his debts. Jesus said:
“Because of this, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlements, a debtor was brought to him owing 10000 talents. Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned. Then the servant fell on his knees, before him, “Have patience with me,” he begged, “and I will pay back everything.” Matthew 18 v 23 – 26
The master, like our Father God, had compassion on the servant because his petition showed his recognition and ownership of the debt. He did not attempt to deny it or refuse to acknowledge it. To do that took humility. He was remorseful but later we are to learn that he was not repentant.
What was the master’s response to his request?
“His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him.” Matthew 18 v 27
This is what God’s Kingdom on earth should look like in our own lives. He starts from a position of compassion. How we treat others should reflect His compassion. Exercising our Father God’s compassion creates opportunities for new beginning, for a fresh start and for freedom from bondage. The servant, however, in this parable, did not grasp that the mercy he received he should have extended to others. This is what Jesus Christ went on to say in the parable after this servant was able to breathe a sigh of relief:
“But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him saying “Pay back what you owe me!” So, his fellow servant fell down and begged him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you back.” But he refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt.” Matthew 18 v 28 – 30
This action, in view of his own cancelled debt, was extreme. The forgiven servant was so quick to forget that he had just received compassion, mercy, and pardon. What should have been a heart of gratitude was still a heart of stone. He lacked the softness that results from acknowledging being the recipient of grace and mercy. In our own lives there should be a softness in how we show the compassionate kindness of Jesus Christ to those who we believe are indebted to us, whether real or perceived. We are called to release people. Their release brings our freedom from harbouring unforgiveness. The Apostle Paul said that there is only one debt that should concern us:
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13 v 8
How we treat each other will always bring the response of a watching audience. This is what happened in the case of the unforgiving servant:
“When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.” Matthew 18 v 31
Nobody likes to see others being treated with injustice. Even today, most people, locally, nationally, and internationally, will respond by standing in the gap to publicise injustice and to see that it is rectified. This is what King Solomon said from the wisdom that he asked for and received from our Father God:
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31 v 8 – 9
The fellow servants did the right things: they spoke up, they sought justice and they sought to defend the rights of another to be given an opportunity to be treated fairly and equally. When we speak up and act on behalf of those, even those who may be responsible for creating their own crisis, like the servant who owed the unforgiving servant a hundred denarii, we are showing compassionate kindness. Remember there is always a captive audience watching and waiting to judge whether we reflect the forgiving, compassionate heart of our Father God.
So, the fellow servants went to the master and the master was not pleased with what he was told. Jesus Christ goes on to say:
“Then the master summoned him and declared, “You wicked servant! I forgave all your debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had o you?” Matthew 18 v 32 – 33
The master summarised the actions of the servant by attributing it to his character – wicked and evil. The master concluded that he was not a good person. His character, his nature, and his actions were the opposite of the master’s.
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are not just focussed on primarily asking for our daily provisions. We are asking and praying for our Father God’s character and His nature to be evidenced in our lives through our words and our actions. Why? Because we are His hands and feet in the world through whom the Holy Spirit guides us in our interactions with our families, our friends, the Church and with others – evidenced through our willingness to forgive their trespasses when they arise, just as our Father God has forgiven us our trespasses. We need to learn to do that as quickly as the master responded to the pleas of the unforgiving servant. Slowness to forgive brings entrapment and a total lack of joy.
“So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” Matthew 5 v 23 – 26
We should learn to express the same grace of our Father God towards us, towards others. He is our heavenly Father and so His heavenly DNA, through faith, should be seen in our characteristics. Anything else is out of character and does not show a family resemblance or family trait. In order to appropriate that part of the Lord’s Prayer concerning forgiving others so that we can experience forgiveness ourselves, we should recognise that that part of the prayer is a prayer of alignment with our Father God’s heart. We should live as if He is our heartbeat.
When the disciples asked Jesus Christ to teach them how to pray, they would not know until later the magnitude of the power of forgiveness being demonstrated when Jesus Christ aligned His will with the will of the Father. He did this so that heaven and earth, man and his God could come back into the alignment of a right union and a right relationship. The prophet Isaiah described the injustices of our Saviour on our behalf when he prophesied that:
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely, He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment, He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken, for the transgression of My people. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence nor was any deceit in His mouth.” Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer.” Isaiah 53 v 3 – 10
How would I react? How would you react if you suffered the trespass of just one of those injustices? Jesus Christ did it all for us at the cross because our Father God knew that this would return our status of eternal freedom. In the physical pain of His human suffering and the temporary separation from our Father God because He was carrying the sins, the trespasses, the wrongs and the disobedience of us all, in response to our rejection of our Father God, it is written:
“Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots”, Luke 23 v 34
Even, when experiencing pain and hurt we are called to forgive just as Jesus Christ forgave us. The ability to forgives sets us apart from those who refuse to forgive. Choosing to forgive sets us free and makes us winners, like our Saviour Jesus Christ. To be that winner in prayer and in deed we need to go beyond the liturgy of repetition. We need to follow the advice of Paul the Apostle, who said:
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name above all names, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father” Philippians 2 v 5 – 11
The impact of forgiving and being forgiven is far reaching. It is not just about the immediacy of the moment. Being forgiven by Jesus Christ is a generational comfort that is freely available to all because of the compassionate mercies of our Father God. Let us be humble, willing, obedient, and ready to put these words into action when we pray:
“And forgive us our trespasses as we also forgive those who trespass against us.” Matthew 6 v 12
When we choose to forgive, the Lord’s Prayer becomes the Living Word in our lives. And Jesus Christ is our Living Word.
When we choose to forgive, our hearts are placed to continually bring glory to Jesus Christ, who is seated in the highest place of honour at the right hand of our Father God.
Amen xxx