SOTM: Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord’s Prayer, Part 2)

(Mat 6:12 ESV)  12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Another tough one. “Debts” is a Jewish euphemism for sins. And Jesus explicitly makes our forgiveness conditional on our forgiving others. In fact, in case we’re too slow to get his point, he explains it where we can’t misunderstand it —

(Mat 6:14-15 ESV) 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

“Trespasses” is, again, a euphemism for sins. To Jesus’s listeners, “as we have forgiven our debtors” would sound very much like the command to lend to the poor and to freely forgive the debt. The generosity that is commanded of the Jews toward the poor is extended by Jesus to those in need of our forgiveness. (The “poor in spirit”?)

It’s easy to think of several other teachings by Jesus making the same point. Why speak in such strident, demanding terms? Well, he was speaking to an honor/shame culture in which easy forgiveness was seen as weak, even shameful. Far better to hold a grudge for generations!

But that doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t just as serious when it comes to our need to forgive. Some of us can nurse a grudge for a lifetime. Most of us, I imagine.

Paul says it this way —

(Eph 4:32 ESV)  32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ouch! It’s a good thing that God doesn’t hold grudges! Unfortunately, in the Churches of Christ, some of us actually believe that he does. They believe God won’t forgive until we confess, repent, make restitution, and ask for forgiveness. And because God is so illiberal with his forgiveness, we feel justified in being just as hard-hearted — and some of us have mastered the skill. We become like the god we worship. And it makes for an ugly, cultic, hateful form of religion.

So is this a works salvation? Do we have to earn our salvation through our willingness to forgive others? Well, let’s put it this way. If we aren’t willing to forgive those who sin against us, we don’t understand what God has done for us. The great theological problem here isn’t works salvation but our unwillingness to let the gospel live in us — indeed, our unwillingness to admit how very sinful we are so that we can begin to grasp how hard it is for an infinitely holy being to forgive us. We don’t understand God’s magnanimity because we refuse to see ourselves as God sees us.

Fortunately, Jesus has give us a parable to make it plain —

(Mat 18:23-35 ESV) “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.  24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents [in First Century terms, 60 million days worth of labor].  25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.  26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’  27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.  28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii [about three months’ pay], and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’  29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’  30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.  31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.  32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’  34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.  35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” 

This should be terrifying. Jesus paints a stark picture. He is deadly serious. Forgive! If you find it too hard, then remember what God has already forgiven you for.

So regarding works salvation, think of it this way. If Jesus were to save a slave trader         (1 Tim 1:10), Jesus would certainly forgive him his sins. But he’d also expect him to leave the slave trading business. This is not just the requirement that we repent to be saved. It’s also following Jesus. It’s having faith/faithfulness/trust in Jesus. It’s what it means to become Christ-like. Any other decision would prove that the slave trader had no idea what he was doing when he submitted to baptism.

But the truly serious sin that Jesus found his disciples struggling to put behind them wasn’t slave trading. It was nursing a good grudge. Seeking vengeance. And so Jesus used a large part of his 3-year mission to his people urging them to learn to forgive.

(Mat 6:13 ESV) 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

This one has puzzled the commentators. Why pray to God — GOD!— that he not lead us into temptation? How could we even imagine God doing such a thing?!

Some translate “test” rather than “temptation,” which is likely closer to right. God has been known to test his people.

C. F. D. Moule asks, “Is it, then, true humility not to intellectualize, not to be over-logical, but, realizing one’s own weakness, to pray for escape even from what seems inevitable . . . while, at the same time, offering one’s obedience: ‘thy will be done’?” He goes on to suggest “that nearly all who pray the Lord’s Prayer probably interpret it, often unconsciously, to mean ‘Let us not succumb to temptation when we are tested’” (RThR, XXXIII [1974], p. 75). This may possibly be so, but there are certainly some who pray from a sense of their own weakness and simply express a firm desire not to undergo temptation. “We ask our Father . . . to keep us out of some situations because our faith could not endure them (example, Peter)” (Lenski). “Whoever prays the Lord’s Prayer is not outstandingly pious, not a religious superstar; he does not ask God for opportunity to prove his faith, but asks not to be put to the test” (Schweizer).

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Pillar NTC; Accordance electronic ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 163.

I think I agree. Rather than asking for the strength to endure, perhaps the point is to humbly admit our weakness and ask not to be tested at all.

So, back to a point I raised a couple of posts ago. Why did Jesus insert the Lord’s Prayer in the midst of three examples of hypocrisy (“When you give …”; “When you pray …”; “When you fast …”). Each of these assumes that his listeners are doing these things, but not necessarily for the right motivation.

Well, the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer of abject humility. We pray for God’s name to be made holy — not our own, and not our denomination, and not our congregation. All glory goes to God and none to anything that we might take credit for.

We pray that God’s will be done, not ours, and not our preacher’s, and not our denomination’s. All glory goes to God.

We ask for the necessities of life — bread — but only the necessities and only enough for today. Tomorrow’s prayer will take care of tomorrow’s bread.

We don’t dare even ask for the strength to pass the test of temptation. We ask that we not be tempted.

You see, if we were to truly understand what we pray, we’d be so humbled it wouldn’t occur to us to draw attention to ourselves when we pray, give, and fast. We’d do those things solely for the glory of God.