No Reserve
Forgive us, our Father, for we have erred; pardon us, our King, for we have willfully sinned; for You are the good and forgiving God. Blessed are You, HASHEM, the gracious One Who pardons abundantly. Shemoneh Esrei – Amidah, Blessing Number 6
Pardon – According to the Artscroll Siddur notes, the Hebrew word mehal (pardon) “means not even harboring resentment or ill will.” It is more than forgiving. Forgiving means removing the deserved punishment; declaring the person “not guilty.” But pardon entails much more. Paleo-Hebrew shows us that this word involves separating us from chaos by deliberate authority. In other words, to pardon is to overcome and abolish the disruption caused by sin through the power of divine authority. It is to obliterate the chaos by divine edict. And once it is obliterated, it is gone forever. God does not retain the register of our willful acts of disobedience in order to remind us later of how much we deserved to be punished and how good He was not to do so. That is essentially what Paul exclaims when he writes, “Should we sin all the more that grace may abound? Absolutely not!”
One of the great tragedies of my life is that no one taught me how to pray. Yes, directions were given. “Just speak what’s on your heart to the Lord.” “Try reciting the Lord’s Prayer.” But the truth is that I never had the company of other men who prayed so that I could absorb the practice. I envy the Jewish way of life. Every morning men rise to pray together. I imagine that my hesitancy before God would be quite different had I grown up in a culture where audible prayer set the stage of each day. Perhaps I too would have learned that when God pardons He does not remind me later of my desperately wicked acts. Perhaps my understanding and appreciation of YHWH as Father would be significantly different if I experienced the Lord’s kindness by osmosis rather than textbook. I do know this. I need a loving Father more now than ever before. In fact, each day that I grow older, I realize how desperate I am to know His love for me. That teaches me of how desperate my own children must be for the same osmosis.
I wonder what my childhood would have been like had I listened to men praying the Amidah each morning. I wonder what I would have thought about the care of the Father had I experienced men dancing at the Wall on Shabbat. I wonder how much of the world’s influence would have run off my mind like water off a roof if I knew the joy of the Lord in the community of the faithful, practiced as public declaration of His pardon.
I will never be Jewish. What I seek to recover is the joy of those Gentiles who entered into the first century assemblies when they discovered mehal through the Messiah. I am looking for that place where Jew and Gentile fellowship together at the feet of the Messiah as they did in Jerusalem in 44 CE.
Topical Index: pardon, mehal, Amidah, Shemoneh Esrei number 6
For more about the Sixth Blessing, click here.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
The hunger and thirst for prayer is the first step.
Very few men or women pray. There is always something more pressing to do. Nothing falls apart when we stop to spend sanctified time with the lover of our soul? And doesn’t today, Shabbat, teach us just exactly that lesson?
And so it is with Daily prayer.
Ohhhhhhh that we would realize how much less there would be to do if we would simply pray.
There is nothing more satisfying than basking in the presence of our Father in heaven.
Shabbat Shalom
It is amazing how ‘we’ have added to the instructions of our loving Father! Here, in churches, synagogues and whatever flavor of messianicism you are involved in leaders have ‘added’ their own ‘rules’ to forgive and pardon. Offense is taken (real or perceived) and demands are then made on the ‘guilty’ party – rules must be followed….their understanding of the infamous Matthew texts are meted out! Counselors called in, beit dins or boards called to order and the ‘guilty’ party (of course the laymen are always the guilty ones aren’t they?) must bring their ‘proof’ of innocence and be cleared by the paid staff. OY VEY!!! Where is the REAL instruction where YOU who have offended and YOU that have taken offense (no matter what the reality is!) go to EACH OTHER and forgive, pardon and walk in love? How long oh Heavenly Father will you endure this wicked generation? (mmmm heard that one somewhere before :->)
I feel I have come to know you, Skip, on one level at least, having read your blog for a couple years or so. Today, I see, we have a few more things in common than I once knew: an uneasiness with prayer, a question of how things might have been different and a longing for the community that is living that difference.
I am very greatful and thank G_d for what He has taught me through you; most significantly, the significance of one’s worldview on the interpretation of scripture. I am especially greatful for the unification of scripture. By that I mean the scripture no longer seems to contradict itself… a troubling characteristic from the western and modern paradigms.
Your Word on prayer and forgiveness is most appropriate and unexpected. I live in Moncton New Brunswick Canada where 5 RCMP (Mounties) were ambushed this week near our home with three of them killed. After the killer was caught the victim’s families were interviewed and one of the Mounties mother’s said how proud she was of her son. He died doing what he loved to do, serving the people. “He always was a model” for the rest of her religious French Canadian children and others. She prayed for the killer’s family. No comment yet about him but no venom either. Too soon.
Some years earlier a Mennonite family in Ontario where I formerly lived had their 21 year old NHL hockey star son killed by his team mate in a high speed sports car “joy ride” crash. The family not only forgave him but they embraced him beyond forgiveness as Skip describes. Today they all enjoy a life with each other in a virtual surrogate parent/son relationship that shares traditional celebrations.
I like Skip would like to have had a better relationship with my father but life can and will go on. What matters is our reaction to our circumstances, the only thing we can control. Forget the past. Love one another as I love you, forgive one another as I forgive you, do unto others as I do unto you. We have been shown the way by an expert. Now just do it. We ONLY have now.
Simple but not easy.
That was so beautiful Skip. Out of all the professors I sat under from Bible College, Seminary, and Divinity School you still by are my favorite instructor. I wish all the joy and more truth possible to you and yours. Thank you for teaching me more about the Amidah!:) When I pray it tomorrow I will understand more of G-d’s love towards us all.
I am looking for that place where Jew and Gentile fellowship together at the feet of the Messiah as they did in Jerusalem in 44 CE.
As am I…….. can you tell us what that looked like? What was a Shabbat gathering like in 44 CE?
I’m looking for that place too. All over the world I’m looking. So far I haven’t found it. But Bob and I do talk about what it was like in 40 CE. See the video lessons from the Second Series trip to Israel.
Skip,
I tried looking up the word “mehal” in Strong’s. Can’t find it. There is “mahal”, which means to weaken or circumcise. I even tried “mechal” to see if it was there, but it is not. When I look at all the words for pardon in the Bible, I find “nasa” or “salach” or “ratsah”. Help…?
Thanks!
But it’s not in Strong’s because it comes from rabbinic material, not the Bible. That’s why I gave you the rabbinic text.
You need to combine this link (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Prayers/Daily_Prayers/Shemoneh_Esrei/Selichah/selichah.html) with the comment in the Art Scroll Siddur
I have considering, lately, finding the morning and evening prayers for our family. Is there anything wrong with us doing them at home and not at a synagogue?
Secondly, I am confused. When you say I am not Jewish, what does that mean? If we are to attach ourselves to Israel and if the Torah was given to all the nations, then what is the difference between how we should walk out our faith? I have been trying to listen to everything you and Bob have regarding this subject but am not finding any defining guide lines. I have learned from you both that finding the “right” fellowship is such a Western/Greek mindset. So I am free to find a Torah observant congregation and live out this walk together. But there seems to be some difference between Jew and Gentile for you and Bob and I am not sure what that difference is. Does that mean Gentiles should not practice Torah traditions as Jews do? I am sorry I am not getting a clear understanding and appreciate all that you write to teach us the Word in Truth!
Jewish is an ETHNIC designation. I am Norwegian, therefore I am not Jewish. But that doesn’t mean I am not in the Kingdom of Israel. It only means that I am a Gentile who has been grafted in. Like Abraham. I am adopted into God’s kingdom but I was not BORN Jewish.
However, now that I have been adopted, I live by the same rules as any other member of the family. So Torah applies to me insofar as it applied to any other Gentile adopted into the family. That does NOT means every Torah mitzvah applies. I am a man, so those for women do not apply. I am not a Levite so none of those apply. But the ones that apply to men who are not Levites who do not live in the land do apply, etc.
Ok thank you, I was not sure if more was meant by that. I understand this completely as my daughter is adopted from China and that gives me the deepest possible understanding of this.