Forgive us our (sins/debts/trespasses), as we forgive our (debtors/those who sin/trespass against us).

It must be one of the most galling things for human nature to know that from the very beginning of our existence we are in debt. Before we ever commit a sinful act, or a trespass, or a fault, we owe. Not only that, we have no means by which to pay our debt. We are created and sustained gratis by the God who unilaterally decided that we should live. So we already begin, as we look at the next Lord’s Prayer petition, at a deficit. And then Jesus adds our shortcomings to the mix. Forgive us as we forgive.

Now the first interesting aspect of this little request is that it appears in a slightly different form in the two Gospels that record it. In Matthew, the disciple asks for relief from sin. Luke, however, tells us that Jesus teaches us to pray to be forgiven of our debts. My initial question is this: Does the use of different words even matter? Perhaps the answer lies in the operative word, forgive. The Greek – aphiemi – has a fairly complex set of connotations. Most often it means something like a departure. It also carries the sense of forsaking, leaving alone, sending away, separating, put off, hurl away – well, we get the idea.

So we might say that to forgive, whether a sin or a debt, speaks of something held on to. The New Testament book known as Hebrews speaks of laying aside “every weight and sin that clings so closely” (Heb. 12:1). Debts and sins are appparently rather sticky things, whether we owe payment for them, or someone else owes payment to us. When we are the debtor or sinner, we carry the burden, often unnecessarily. Our pride, self-justification, and ungodly shame keep us from freedom and in the darkness of guilt. When we are the creditor, when others have sinned against us, our pride (again), self-justification (oy vey), and sense of injury keep others from freedom and us in the darkness of judgment.

I think this is why we have both debts and sins mentioned. Especially when we are the ones owed, we are prone to keep others beholden to us. Debt says we do this in a general way – emotional, financial, relational. Sin makes it really personal and specific. We are wronged and not letting go. But – perhaps obviously – this is why Jesus presents such a symmetrical petition to us. Forgive us as we forgive.

The opening phrase is disarmingly simple in its application. When the Lord is involved, there is a ready release of what we owe. “You will cast our sins into the heart of the sea” (Micah 7:19); “As far as the east is from the west is how far he removes our transgressions from us” (Psalms 103:12); and, “I will remember their sins and misdeeds no more” (Heb. 10:17). Yet living as if we are unforgiven is so common as to be a cliché. A large swath of humanity sitting with persistent, obdurate self-recrimination. Guilt as a virtue.

For another set of us, the issue is the gloss over syndrome – guilt as no big deal. We (and I really do mean I) live Heinrich Heine’s dying words, “God will forgive; that’s his job.” Whether guilt as virtue or guilt as nothing characterize us, the same root of self-regard is yielding its varied harvest.

So we come back to the equational balance to what we are praying. Our approach to sin, debt, and guilt in our own lives affects our perspective toward others. I wouldn’t say that we’re necessarily consistent in carrying attitudes and actions through from one side to the other. I can strike the grand bargain one day – I will ignore others’ wrongs if they (and God) will pay no attention to mine – and sit in cold judgment on your faults the next. At other times we are almost ruthlessly consistent: An eye for an eye for you and for me. And sometimes we’re just plain hypocrites, where we won’t forgive in a brother or sister the very things in us that most need forgiveness.

It’s all a pretty complex interrelationship among many moving parts. But one thing Jesus is clearly not saying is that we forgive so that we are forgiven, or that we are forgiven because we forgive or if we forgive. That kind of thinking turns grace on its head and denies the essence of the gospel. We aren’t talking about an algebraic formula, but a matter of the heart. Rats! We were hoping for the formula, even though we would never be able to apply it

Instead, what Jesus’ prayer represents for us is an understanding of our need for freedom on both sides. I need a release from my debt to the Lord and to those I have offended. And I need the blessing of releasing others from their debt to me. I have to confess that I don’t see how much I have infringed and trampled and trespassed on the lives of my wife, my children, my friends. That knowledge can be brutal, but it is crucial. Likewise, to allow a searching of my spirit to find the places where I control others through judging them, holding on to slights, demanding that they live up to my standards (most of which I don’t reach myself).

So we pray, Lord separate us from the debts that we owe and the ones we hold on to that others owe us. Let’s hurl them away, cast them into the heart of the sea where you have put ours, out of sight and out of mind. And as we pray, make us conscious in the depths of our judgmental and guilty hearts that you took these debts and sins and trespasses on yourself before we ever knew how to ask for release from them. Because you allowed every wrong to fall on you, and then destroyed them in your victory in resurrection, we can receive power to be forgiven and to forgive. Glorious, blessed, and joyful liberty of the children of God.