The Price To Pay
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12
Debts – There are only two critical terms in a debt: who and what. Without those two terms, the debt means nothing. So, let’s ask the obvious questions. In the Lord’s Prayer, whom do I owe and what do I owe? Since the prayer is addressed to God the Father, the answer to the first question is obvious. I owe my debt to God. I am petitioning Him to forgive something that I owe Him. But the answer to the second question requires a bit more thinking.
What debt do I owe to God?
A debt implies that something has been given to me that I am under obligation to return. If you loan me money, I must repay the funds. If I borrow your car, you expect it back. If I borrow your pen, the obligation is not diminished. I need to give you a pen. What I receive, I must return. In Hebrew, this is called “measure for measure.” It applied to legal and moral circumstances. An eye for an eye is the same principle as dollar for dollar.
So, then, what have I received from God?
Suddenly the curtain is pulled back. The answer is: everything! I am in debt for my breath, my health, my sight, my arms, my protection, my provision, my job, my wife, my home, my children, my mind, my talents, my hopes and dreams. Everything I have is on loan from the Father. Without His benevolence, I do not exist. I owe Him all that I am. That is a very difficult debt to repay! Life for life, says that Old Testament. It dawns on me. To repay this debt will require my life. I must give back what He has given. In order to pay this one, I will have to die.
“Forgive me this debt” is my plea to my Creator to let me live without demanding my life in repayment. My status as His debtor will never go away. I have no way to repay this debt without dying. If I am to live, He will have to forgive what I owe. And He is willing to do this. That’s amazing. Can you imagine what it would be like to forgive someone such a debt? The debtor would be forever grateful, forever humble, forever your voluntary servant in thanksgiving.
Of course, there is a little twist to this story. Forgiveness requires substitution. You see, the record can’t be simply erased. I can’t take it off the books. If I did, the balance sheet wouldn’t balance. The needed capital will have to come from someplace else. It does. God Himself repays. He dies for me.
Is this what you have in mind when you repeat these words? Did you think it was only about “sins”?
Topical Index: forgive, debts, repayment, Matthew 6:12
When put into this context I can’t help but feel more and more that the way up is down. I can’t help but think of the hymm “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.” I have a snowed-in day to ponder this. Thanks.
I believe someone (perhaps St. Augustine) also called this the “terrible prayer” because it tells us that there is a direct corollary between the way I am to appropriate God’s debt forgiveness towards me as I am in debt-forgiving with others. That is, God will connect His offer of forgiveness to me “even as” I forgive those who trespass (owe) against me. Yipes! This is that parable of the the one who owed a lot to the king and pled his case and the king forgave his debt…then he turned around a demanded a far lesser debt to be repaid and was unwilling to forgive and thereby incurred the wrath of the King.
Thank you Skip: ‘shalom and blessings be upon you’ for opening up my shallow western thinking to the bigger picture of my debt and what I ‘owe’ the Almighty.
This will definitely be shared with our small group on Shabbat.