“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”
How – when you combine all the complexities of the world and each other and faith and culture and differences and conflict… all of it – do we live out “Hallowed be your name, Kingdom come, will be done, give us our daily bread?”
What was revolutionary about Jesus and the Kingdom he was inaugurating in comparison to the one that
was trying to stifle the Hebrew people (and others)?
Forgiveness.
Where Rome crushed, Jesus healed.
Where Rome dominated, Jesus gave grace.
Where Rome controlled, Jesus freed.
Where Rome punished, Jesus forgave.
Forgiveness is perhaps the most revolutionary thing you can do. It midwifes resurrection. Brings dead things, hopeless things, to life. It is the hardest, and most powerful, thing we can be involved in.
“This is at the heart of the ongoing revolution: that a new way of being human has been launched, a way that starts with forgiveness (God’s forgiveness of those who turn from their now defeated idols) and continues with forgiveness (the forgiveness offered by Jesus’s followers in his name and by his Spirit to all who have wronged them). This is why forgiveness, in both senses, looms large in the prayer Jesus taught his followers. This is what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like when heaven comes to earth, when God’s kingdom comes and his will is done in the world of humans as it is in the world of the angels. Forgiveness is the new reality. It is the power of the revolution. Praying the Lord’s prayer and believing in Jesus resurrection turn out ultimately to be all about the same thing.” – N.T. Wright, “The Day the Revolution Began.”
“Forgiveness is perhaps the most revolutionary thing you can do.”
Powerful, two minute reads that have helped change the script in thousands of people's lives.
“Forgive us as we forgive.”
I’m weeping as I type.
Forgiveness is a process. I have trouble with it. There are those unwilling to forgive me. And to utter the words, “Forgive me?” is like drawing blood from a stone. (But it has been done before…).
That’s why prayer is not a bunch of words, but a way to live open and connected to Spirit, God, the essence of all things that in turn connects us all one to another. Forgiveness is the sticky stuff that sometimes gets messy, but also brings even the impossible together.
That’s why Jesus spoke about forgiveness before he spoke about temptation.
Paul wrote to his friends in Rome and said:
“I’m a mystery to myself, for I want to do what is right, but end up doing what my moral instincts condemn.” (Rom 7:15 TPT).
I’m a mystery to myself, too.
Does God lead us into temptation? Only gives us what he knows we can handle? Does he test our faith?
I think the point is to include this messy mystery into our connection with God. (Deliver us from temptation.) Don’t hide it from him. Don’t allow the shame we sometimes feel due to our humanity to stop us from leaning in and searching the Divine out. Sin isn’t the problem, our lack of vulnerability and honesty, is.
Make peace with yourself and your humanity. Breathe. Presence is a safe place for all of your mysteries.
And being delivered from the evil one? Some think this could be the little red guy who wages war on the Kingdom of God. But the Hebrew word for evil one is “Ha-satan” and means “the accuser.” “Devil” comes from the word “diabolos” and means to “slander or falsely accuse.” In this prayer, Jesus teaches us that being in touch with the spirit of God means to desire to be free from attitudes that would lead us to accuse and slander others, causing conflict and division. Being delivered from the evil one could very well mean reconciliation to others.
Forgiveness.
Deliver us from all kinds of evil, oh God.
There are no saints and sinners in God's glorious Kingdom, just sons, and daughters. And either we are all children of God, or none of us are. God is not afraid of our brokenness, he invites it into his story through his hands and feet and side and blood and water and wine and bread, and includes all of us, every part of us, into his Kingdom.
And prayer? It's the gateway, the path, the door… leave it open.
Forgiveness is perhaps the most revolutionary thing you can do.
Written by Liz Milani
Brilliant, brilliant message Lizzy! Forgiveness is often difficult but it's the most life changing thing we can do, starting with forgiving ourselves, which I find to be the hardest forgiving of all.
So much YES Maureen!! I get inboxes and DM's about how dare I ask people to forgive… and I think we have a really warped view on forgiveness. It doesn't mean who hurt you gets off Scott free, it doesn't mean you have to be in relationship with someone who treated horrifically… it means you reject the poison that will harden your heart over time. And yep… starting with ourselves… which is challenging. Liz xo