Tuesday in the First Week

Isaiah 55:6-11; Psalm 34:15-22; Matthew 6:7-15

Today, Jesus teaches us how to pray.  The words are so familiar, but reading them with the whole passage changes them.  I’m struck by the fact that the only clause of the prayer that Jesus elaborates on is the prayer for forgiveness.  He doesn’t move through each clause and expand on it (unless you see his whole life as an exposition of this prayer); he talks about the need to forgive if we would be forgiven.

Perhaps this is because this is the only part of the prayer that makes God’s action so clearly linked to our own.  God’s name is hallowed, and we affirm that.  We desire that God’s kingdom come and Her will be done.  We ask for bread, and for safety from testing and evil.  We ask God simply to act.

Only in this area do we link God’s work with our own decision: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”  Why is this?  Jesus seems to say, this is a law of the universe.  This is how it works.  If you forgive, you will be forgiven by God.  So even here we affirm what already is.  Our prayer does not make God act differently, so much as it enlists us in God’s purpose in the world.

I’m always challenged by this part of the prayer.  I want God to forgive me more than I forgive others - more deeply, more generously, more completely.  I want a higher standard than the one I manage to achieve.   But that’s not the law of the universe.  I will only get what I give.

Forgiveness doesn't mean endorsement of actions.  It doesn’t mean forgetting.  It means letting go, releasing my fear, and starting over.

Each time I forgive, I’m stunned by the way the universe opens to me.  I see the person I have forgiven in a different light, with gifts and beauty that I couldn’t see before.  And when I see their gifts and beauty, I am enriched.  I treat them as blessed, and so they treat me that way.  They blossom before my eyes.

Of course, the blossom can wilt.  They may injure me again, or I may need to apply more doses of forgiveness to keep the blossom open.  But I’m learning that forgiveness opens my world.  I cease being a prisoner of resentment and fear, and venture back into the beautiful world.  My loving God does indeed release me.

Where are you withholding forgiveness today?  What would it take for you to let go?  Pray for the willingness to forgive.  Pray for those you cannot, will not forgive today (including yourself).  Pray for all those walking this road with you this Lent, that we may be forgiven.