Debts

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12).

Different translations render this part of the Lord's Prayer differently, and various churches follow suit. Some say, "Forgive us our sins," while others follow the NIV with the word "debts." I grew up with the older "trespasses" and most of the churches in my tradition still use "trespasses." All of that, of course, gets at the difficulty and challenge of Bible translation. But that's a topic for another time.

Each of those words or translations gives a slightly different nuance of the original word. "Sins" has a religious connotation—something done against God. "Trespasses" indicates that we have gone where we ought not to go, bringing up images of "No Trespassing" signs. "Debt," for most of us today, brings money to mind, because we typically owe a lot of it.

We'd all like to have our debts cancelled, wouldn't we? Imagine if your banker called you on the phone and said, "I'm glad to tell you that all of your debts have been erased. You owe nothing." Would you dance for joy? Would you believe the banker? Would you pinch yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming? It's almost unimaginable—your house, your car, your personal loans, all cancelled! All that money and those resources you've been using for what is genially called "debt service" is now yours. What would you do?

In the prayer, the brokenness and sin that we all carry around is compared to that debt. We've gone where we ought not go. We've done what we should not do. We've hurt others and they've hurt us. More than that, we've broken our covenant, our promise to God. There is a debt there, something owed. More than a hasty "I'm sorry," this debt requires "service," work, forgiveness work. We get this; it's the way life works. And yet...

And yet...Jesus, on the cross, stepped in and paid the debt for us. In some way we can't ever begin to understand, Jesus went to the cross and out of love, paid our debt. It's been taken care of. The service he asks for now in return is for us to live as forgiving people. To forgive others as we have been forgiven. He even says, just a bit later on in the sermon, that we will be forgiven as we forgive others. Our debt disappearing somehow depends on our relieving the debt of those who have hurt us. I can't explain it, but Jesus says we block God's work in our lives when we refuse to forgive.

So what about it? Do you want your debt forgiven? Are you willing, then, to pray this prayer with your life? "Forgive us...as we have forgiven..."