LENTEN WEDNESDAY 6, 2010 

“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” How many times do you think you have prayed this and asked God for forgiveness? Well, let’s see. Like many of you, I pray the Lord’s Prayer every day, and some-times more than once a day. I’m 51 years old. How many times have I prayed these words and asked for forgiveness? Let’s see, 51 times 365 = 18,615. Over 18,000 times I have prayed and asked for forgiveness! What a constant reminder of my sin and my need for forgiveness is this prayer that Jesus has given us! And, if that’s not enough, Luther piles on in his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer and tells us, “we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.” Yea, tell me something I don’t know! 

Is this what Jesus meant to do with this request for forgiveness, remind us of how sinful we are? I’d like to tell you a story, about little Tommy and his older sister, Linda. They were spending a few weeks at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s farm in the summer, and Tommy brought along his new slingshot to play with. With his skinny nine year old arms he could hardly hold it steady as he pulled back the sling, so he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn… Until that day when he and Linda were playing together and he said, “Watch this!” Putting a stone in the sling, he pulled back and let fly at Grandma’s pet duck, Charley. Thud! He hit that poor duck on the side of the head and it immediately dropped, dead! Scared and not knowing what to do, Tommy hid its body in the barn under some hay. 

That night after dinner Grandma said to Linda, “Remember, dear, it’s your turn to do the dishes.” “Oh, Tommy told me that he would do them for me, didn’t you, Tommy,” she said as she gave him a knowing wink. “Is that right, Tommy?” asked Grandma. “Yes,” he said quietly; and he did the dishes. 

The next day Tommy did his chores… and his sister’s chores. “Quack, quack,” she whispered in his ear when he opened his mouth to protest to Grandma, and he shut his mouth and went to work. 

This lasted for several days until, finally, Tommy could take it no more. With tears streaming down his face, he told Grandma what he had done. “I know,” she told him when he confessed. “I was watching you out the window, and I saw what happened. I forgave you right away. I have been wondering how long you were going to let your sister enslave you before you told me.” She hugged him and dried his tears, then sent him to find his sister and bring her in for a talk. 

Just as in the other petitions of the Lord’s Prayer we are not so much reminding God of what we want Him to do but reminding ourselves of what He does, even before and without our asking, so it is with this petition. We are not prompting God to forgive but reminding ourselves of the forgiveness we have in Him. Martin Luther points this out to us in the Large Catechism:

“There is great need to call upon God and pray, “Dear Father, forgive us our debts.” Not that he does not forgive sin even without and before our prayer; and he gave us the Gospel, in which there is nothing but forgiveness, before we prayed or even thought of it. But the point here is for us to recognize and accept this forgiveness.”

God does not need daily reminders for Him to forgive us. He is our Father! You lived in your parents’ love when you were a child, and out of this love they forgave you many times; sometimes, I’m sure, without your even being aware of it. How much more is this true of our perfectly good and loving Father in heaven! Through Christ we live in His forgiveness. For this reason, then, we go to Him constantly for forgiveness, that our sins might not burden and enslave us! This constant prayer also keeps us humble, so that we rely on God’s goodness and not our own. 

“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We who are forgiven are also not to use the sins of others to enslave them or bring them grief. This could not be more clear than in the Jesus’ parable of the king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. Who is this king? Well, keep in mind that he canceled the huge debt that his servant owed him. 10,000 talents was millions of dollars! Did the servant ask him to cancel it? No. That possibility probably never entered his head. How poorly he knew his master! He only asked for time to repay it; something he would never be able to do. It was sheer grace and mercy that prompted the king to cancel the debt. Was there any cost? Yes! The cost was great! – but not to the servant. The king absorbed the entire loss himself. Who is the king in this story? It is Jesus. The forgiveness of our sins, which God gladly and freely gives us, costs us nothing, but it cost Jesus everything. 

"Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?" We should not even have to ask. Are you sinned against? Yes, often; including by those you know and love. Their sins hurt the most. But, to hold onto those sins, to use them and make the sinner pay for them in some way, as Tommy’s sister did, is to sin against Jesus Himself. It will surely bring His judgment down upon you, as Christ’s prayer itself points out. “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive” we pray. With that little word “as” you are telling God to do to you as you do to others. So, if you hold onto wrongs and refuse to forgive, you’re telling God to remember your sins and not forgive you! May this never be our prayer! 

Forgiving sins may cost you. It may even hurt your reputation, and people may take advantage of you. You will then be like Christ, and He will not let you fall. He is a mighty King whom all the sins of the world, including the ugliest and most vicious and destructive sins, could not conquer. Although they shed His blood, His blood is poison and death unto them. Although they cost Him His life, He rose from the dead in eternal triumph. He rules over every and all sin! In Christ your every sin is forgiven! As His child, forgive also, and enjoy His rule over sin through you.