“Forgive us our debts (trespasses, or sins) as we forgive our debtors.” Matthew 6:12a

Do you remember your mom making you say you were sorry to her or to someone else, when you weren’t sorry at all?  She knew you weren’t, but somehow the offended party got a sense of justice from the transaction.  She also knew that if she didn’t correct your behavior, you wouldn’t learn to share, to be kind, and to repent. And then, hopefully, she said “I forgive you” or made the other person say it, because we also have to be taught to forgive. And we all need to be set free from the shame of guilt.

God is LOVE and He wants us to love Him, and to love one another.  But to force us, would not be love.  Free will, just like gravity, is a law of the universe, with benefits and consequences.  God gave us mothers and fathers to restrict our free will until we were old enough to make wise choices. They didn’t let us run out into a busy street, jump off the top of the slide, steal our friend’s toy, or hit our little brother.  And when we did those things anyway, we experienced consequences that showed us that it wasn’t worth it.

This morning, I studied Exodus 20, the ten commandments and chapters 21-23:13. The Israelites, a people who had lived like slaves, with few free will choices, for hundreds of years, were like lost children. God gave them ten simple rules. Like a strong father, He gave the people a display of His power so they would respect Him and know He meant business. (Exodus 20:18-20) Like a compassionate father, He gave Moses detailed instructions as to how to teach the people to live by these rules including consequences to give them when they broke them.  Jesus summed it up for us in Matthew 22:37-40, saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.”

It is interesting to study the Hebrew words for trespasses, debts and sins.  Together they cover a range of offenses—failing to do the good we could have done, not returning what you borrowed, stealing what is not yours, deceiving, lying, offending, harming morally or physically, etc.  The seriousness ranges from unintentional, accidental, neglect, willful, criminal, to full on rebellion and revolt.  And the idea of consequence and sacrifice or restitution is built into all of them.  In summary, sin is everything that is Not Love. Perhaps Matthew 9:12 should be translated as “Forgive us for not-love as we forgive those who have not loved us.”