Unfortunately that is what many people in our world today think about forgiveness. They believe that you must be brain damaged or mentally unbalanced to offer any kind of radical forgiveness, but offering this kind of forgiveness is exactly what we say we will do every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer. As we have already seen, the Lord’s prayer is dangerous and it is difficult if we are going to take it seriously because it calls us to do things that the world really does believe are crazy or naïve or downright impossible and nowhere do we see that more clearly than in this phrase: forgive us our trespasses (or our sins) as we forgive those who trespass (or those who sin) against us.
If you read through the entire Lord’s Prayer you will see that there is only one thing that we explicitly state that we will do and that is to forgive. While the prayer is full of implied actions on our part, like helping feed those who are hungry and working for God’s will to come to earth, the only clear thing we promise God is that we will forgive. And notice that it doesn’t say we will forgive those sins that don’t really matter, or those who sins that aren’t socially reprehensible, it says we will forgive those who sin against us – period. All who sin against us personally and all whose sin has an impact on our community are to be forgiven, no matter whom it is or what the sin is. Today, these are difficult words for us to hear in Centre County and as followers of Jesus this is a difficult message for us to share with others, but we need to. The Lord’s Prayer states clearly that as followers of Jesus we will ask God to forgive us and then we will forgive others no matter who they are and no matter what they have done. So, yes, that means that today and in many of the days to come we need to wrestle with what it means to extend forgiveness to people like Jerry Sandusky
But before we can do that, in fact before we can extend forgiveness to anyone for anything, we need to come to terms with the first two words of this phrase: forgive us. When we pray these two words we are confessing to God that we are sinners and we cannot overlook this. In our world it is easy to see the sin of others but none of us what to admit our own sin. In Jesus sermon on the mount, just a few verses after he teaches us the Lord’s Prayer Jesus tells us that before we can judge others and before we can really comment on their sin we need to come to terms with our own sin. Look at Matthew 7:3-5. So before we comment or pass judgment on the sin and failures of others we need to first confess the sin and failures found in our lives but this kind of honest self reflection and confession is not easy. Whether it is in politics, business, sports, schools or just among our family and friends, none of us want to admit that we have a log in our own eye. None of us want to admit that we are sinners and none of us want to take responsibility for our failures because to do that makes us weak and vulnerable.
In politics, someone’s failures open the door for their opponent to score points and get more votes. In business, a company’s failure can lead to lawsuits and financial hardships. To admit any kind of moral or ethical failure in our schools and communities can lead to a loss of status and position or power – which in turn can lead to the breakdown of institutions that we have learned to depend upon. Even in our family and among our friends where relationships of love and trust are supposed to be the strongest we struggle to confess our sin because we are afraid that even among people who say they love us – we fear that we might be rejected if they knew the truth. So none of us want to admit that we are sinners, but the Lord’s Prayer doesn’t give us that option. When we pray, forgive us our trespasses, we are making the bold statement that we are sinners and we need to take this confession seriously.
Instead of trying to avoid confessing out sin and working hard to justify it by saying, at least I’m not as bad as he is, we need to be honest and confess our sin to God. Here is a very practical application for all of us this week, when we start thinking about the Jerry Sandusky situation and the crimes he has now been convicted of, before we pass any kind of judgment and before we give any kind of opinion we should first stop and confess our sin to God. What are the ways we have sinned against God this past week? How have we failed God in our attitudes, words and actions? How have we let others down and failed to live out our faith in ways that inspire and encourage and help others? How have our actions, words and attitudes torn down and hurt those around us? Now the point isn’t to wallow in the darkness of our failures, the point is to identify our sin and confess it to God so that God can forgive us.
Look at 1 John 1:8-10. So if we confess our sin – God will forgive us which also implies that if we don’t confess our sin, God will not forgive us. When we don’t confess our sin, if we aren’t honest about our sin then in some sense we are saying that we have not sinned – or that our sin is not that bad, and when we do that we make God out to be a liar and when we do that, God’s word and grace are not in us which means there is no forgiveness which means there is no life.
So we need to confess our sin to God and when we do, God forgives. It is as simple and powerful as that. When we humble ourselves and honestly confess our sin to God – God forgives and the reason God forgives is because it is in God’s nature to forgive and the reason it is in God’s nature to forgive is because it is God’s nature to love. Actually, it is again in 1 John 4:8 that it says, God is love. It is because God loves us so much and wants an eternal relationship with us that he willingly forgives us.
And let’s be clear, God loves everyone this much. Sometimes we have a hard time understanding how God’s love can be so unconditional and all encompassing – but it is. John 3:16 says… God so loved the world… not some in the world, not everyone but those who do certain things… God loves the world - everyone. And then 2 Peter 3:9 says… God wants everyone to be saved, which means that God wants to forgive everyone – which means that God wants everyone to confess their sins so that he can forgive.
So in the Lord’s Prayer we confess our sin so God can forgive us but before we can move on and talk about forgiving others we have to ask ourselves if we have accepted God’s forgiveness? Have we accepted God’s grace and love and allowed it to free us from sin and the burden of guilt that sin often brings? If we haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness, we might as well stop here because I’m not sure we can go to the next step and talk about forgiving others until we have learned to accept God’s forgiveness for ourselves.
Why do we have such a hard time accepting God’s forgiveness and grace? One of the reasons I think we struggle to accept God’s grace is because we often don’t feel worthy enough to be forgiven, but the Lord’s Prayer has already addressed this issue. When we call God Our Father we are saying that our lives have value and dignity because we have been created in the image of God. It’s not always easy, but we need to learn how to set aside our feelings and accept how God sees us and what God has done for us. God loves us and God forgives us. Look at Psalm 103:11-12. It is because God loves us that God forgives us, and again God does forgive us, look at 1 John 1:9.
So the Lord’s Prayer tells us that God love us and that God forgives us and it is only once we have accepted this love and forgiveness that we can move on and begin to forgive others. There is a reason Jesus formulates the prayer the way he does and it is because forgiving others is only possible after we have confessed our sin and been forgiven ourselves. It is God’s grace working in us that helps us forgive others and that grace only comes through God’s forgiveness which only comes when we confess our sin. So once we experience God’s forgiveness we can begin to reach out and forgive others but many times our struggle to forgive others comes because we misunderstand what forgiveness is all about.
Let’s be clear about a few things. Forgiveness is NOT looking the other way when people sin and it is NOT giving people a pass when they hurt us or others. And forgiveness is NOT staying in situations and relationships of abuse and allowing the pain and destruction in our lives to continue. Forgiveness does NOT mean there is no justice; remember our God is both a God of grace and a God of justice. So what is forgiveness? At its core, forgiveness is just not seeking revenge against those who have hurt us. Forgiveness is not wanting and plotting to see those who have sinned against us be destroyed Forgiveness is learning how to let go of our bitterness and anger toward others so we can walk forward in peace and experience the fullness of life God has for us.
For there to be this kind of forgiveness, one of the things that is needed is for us to see the value in life - both our lives and the lives of those who sin against us but at times this is not easy. When we see and hear about or maybe have experienced for ourselves such painful and horrendous actions as we have heard recently, seeing value in people who inflict pain and suffering on others is not easy, but it is the call of God. Jesus looked at his accusers, from Judas to Pilate to the soldiers who drove the nails into his hands and he didn’t seek to destroy them. Instead of seeking revenge Jesus looked out from the cross and saw value in the life of a thief and in the crowd who was insulting at him. It is not easy to see value and dignity in the lives of those who have committed devastating sin and painful crimes – but there is value and dignity in all life because all life is from God.
The truth for us today is that we are all struggling with what it means to forgive in the very real context of the Jerry Sandusky trial and verdict. As we struggle with what the Lord’s Prayer means for us in this situation, let me be as clear as I can. Forgiveness requires us to acknowledge that sin is real and it has very real and destructive consequences that need to be addressed in our world. People need to be held accountable for their actions and there needs to be justice, but as followers of Jesus we are called to not hold these actions against people forever, the way God doesn’t hold our actions against us forever. Forgiveness today calls us to be open to and work for reconciliation not revenge and if reconciliation is not possible then at least we begin to learn how to let go of our anger so we can move forward and walk in the grace and power of God. While we struggle to figure out what forgiveness looks like, a great example of what forgiveness does look like in a difficult situation was given to us this week by a 68 year old woman in upstate New York.
Karen Klein works as a bus monitor near Rochester NY. If you didn’t see the video of this event, Mrs. Klein was riding as a monitor on a middle school bus when she was viciously bullied by the 10-12 year olds who were riding with her. I find it very interesting that here we are grieving for victims who were 10 and 11 years old, but in NY it is the attackers who were 10 and 11. Sin knows no age. Not only did these children say things that were reprehensible, but they threatened this woman’s physical safety and well being. When I first saw the video I was outraged and even though I had been working all week on a sermon about forgiveness, my gut reaction was to want to lash out at those children and make sure they were punished. What they said and did was horrible and I have to be honest and say that forgiveness was not part of my thought process, but thank God it was for Mrs. Klein.
Mrs. Klein has said that she does not want to press any charges or take any further action against the children and she said that she wants to continue in her job as a school bus monitor but on a different bus and she also said that she is willing to accept a letter of apology from the students. That’s what forgiveness looks like. She has not excused what the students did and she has not said that it was not that bad – she knows it was bad and she and the school are holding them accountable to the truth, but she is not seeking revenge and she is not seeking to have those children destroyed emotionally or financially. She is seeking reconciliation. She wants to continue in her job as a bus monitor but she also wants an apology from the students. She shows us what forgiveness is all about.
There is no question that the phrase, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us is one of the most difficult sections of the Lord’s Prayer (or any prayer) because it calls us to do three difficult things. First it calls us to acknowledge that we are sinners. It requires us to humble ourselves and confess our sin to God which is never comfortable but necessary. Second it calls us to accept God’s forgiveness for ourselves and allow God’s grace to shape our hearts and lives. Again, there is no forgiving others until we can accept God’s forgiveness for ourselves, and third, it says that we will forgive others, not just when it’s easy, not just when it is convenient or we feel like it, but at all times. These are words that we often say without thinking, but they are difficult words to pray when we stop and think about how we need to live them, but when we get it right this forgiveness leads to freedom and life for ourselves and for others, and when we get it right like Reginald Denny and Karen Klein did, it is a shining beacon of hope for our world because it shows those around us who God is and what God’s love and grace and kingdom are all about.
As a church in Centre County today, I believe God is calling us to show the world what real forgiveness is all about. We have an opportunity in our conversations at work and in the community this week to bear witness to what forgiveness really looks like. It’s not about letting someone off the hook and it’s not about looking the other way - forgiveness and justice go hand in hand. Forgiveness is letting go of our anger and it is seeing the value and worth God has placed in all people and it is asking God to bring the power of his grace and love and healing into everyone’s hearts and lives. That we are talking about forgiveness today, and dealing with this call to forgive in the midst of all that is going on in our community is not a coincidence, God is calling us as his people to live out this pray in a way that brings healing and hope to our community. God is calling us to wrestle with this today because while forgiveness is messy and difficult and misunderstood by many people around us, it is also desperately needed by us and our community. The question for us is whether or not we will do it, will we forgive others as God has forgiven us.
It’s not easy to pray these words. Maybe you are struggling to confess your sin to God, maybe you are struggling to accept God’s forgiveness and grace or maybe you are finding it difficult, even next to impossible, to forgive someone in your life or in our community. God knows this isn’t easy stuff, but he promises to give us the power of his spirit to pray this prayer and then to live it, so I invite you to take a step of faith and do exactly that today. Ask God to forgive you and then allow God’s forgiveness to help you forgive others and so that together we can live this prayer out and show our community and world what forgiveness is all about and who our God really is. Would you pray with me?
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy 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, for thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. AMEN
Next Steps: Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Read 1 John 1:8-9
What sins do you need to confess to God? Take some time to humble yourself and honestly admit your failures and shortcomings to God. Write them out and with open hands offer them to God in prayer. Wait in prayer until you feel the reality of God’s forgiveness enter your heart and life.
Read the following Psalm which makes clear to us the forgiveness of God. Psalm 103:3-5, 11-12
(For reflection: Why is it often difficult to accept God’s forgiveness?)
Read Matthew 18:21-35, 6:14-15
Is there anyone in your life you need to forgive (possibly even someone who has died or who you have no idea how to contact)? How will you open yourself to God’s forgiveness in ways that will move you toward forgiving the person(s) who wronged you?
Write down their names and offer them to God asking for the power to forgive.
How can others pray with you and support you in this?
(For reflection: Why is it often difficult to forgive others?)
