Radical forgiveness

This week we continue our series on the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 (verses 9-13):

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
   on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
   as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
   but deliver us from the evil one.

Most of the Lord’s prayer is about who God is or what we are asking him to do for us. But this one statement is something we are committing to… “we also have forgiven our debtors.” Forgiving others when they wrong us is no small commitment to make; people have the capacity to commit all sorts of terrible evil.

As disciples of Jesus, we are to emulate him in the way that he loved his enemies, and had unlimited capacity to forgive those who did the wrong thing by him. This is not an easy path for us to follow, but living in a state of forgiveness and grace is the best way for us to be liberated from past hurts.

As we wrestle with this passage this morning, let us boldly ask for forgiveness, as we radically forgive others.

Brendan