Loving God, though forgiveness is never easy, you stand ready to forgive all those who come to you in repentance and faith.  Help us to experience the release that forgiveness brings, and empower us to pass it on to others, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

          If there were a theme song for today’s sermon, it might be “Let It Go” from the movie Frozen.  (You can all start singing in your head now…)  For, letting it go is a big part of forgiveness.  It is like releasing someone from debt.  It is like freeing somebody who has been oppressed.  It is like putting away somebody’s sins, so that you can no longer see them.  In fact, the Greek word for forgiveness can also be translated as “release.”

         Today we focus on “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us” (Lk. 11:4).  Do we really?...  Have you never held on to your anger, or your righteous indignation, or your sense that somebody else really owes you one?  In fact, I wonder if forgiveness is one of the most difficult things that God asks us to do.  Yet, scripturally speaking, we are told to forgive in no uncertain terms.

         It starts with the Jewish wisdom teaching, “Forgive your neighbour the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray” (Sir. 28:2; cf. Mk. 11:25-26).  A similar sentiment is included in the gospel of Matthew right after the Lord’s Prayer.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Mt. 6:14-15).

Wow!  That’s pretty heavy!  Imagine if God used the same measuring sticks to forgive us as we use for other people.

         We have to ask, though, is that really how things work?  Does God really sit there saying, I’m not forgiving you until you learn how to forgive others?  After all, Lutherans have always emphasized God’s grace and mercy through Jesus Christ.  Yet, even in Luther’s Large Catechism it says, “If you do not forgive, do not think that God forgives you.”  However, Luther also is careful to point out that God’s forgiveness always comes first.  He is also very much in touch with what life in this world is like.  He writes,

We still stumble daily and transgress because we live in the world among people who sorely vex us and give us occasion for impatience, wrath, vengeance, etc. (Large Catechism).

         Forgiveness, it seems, is never easy – and neither would any of us ever be as ready to forgive as God is.  All we need to do is read a little bit in Exodus and Numbers to get a sense of how patient our God actually is.  For, throughout these books, time after time, the people seem to forget what God has done for them and whine and complain.  They wish they could have stayed in Egypt.  They complain about having no food and then complain about being tired of eating manna.  They see the miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and yet they soon make a golden calf to be their god.  Time after time, they rebel, and yet God forgives them when they repent or when Moses prays on their behalf.

         It really does start with God’s forgiveness.  As Romans reminds us, “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).  God did not ask us to do something first so that we would deserve salvation.  Rather, God acted in love, knowing that we could never manage to save ourselves – or to earn God’s forgiveness.

         Thus, it starts with God’s forgiveness, and we are asked to imitate God and our older brother, Jesus.  And so, if we think about how God forgives, in the vast majority of cases in the Scriptures, God forgives when people repent of their sins and turn to God and seek God’s forgiveness.  Lip service does not work, for God knows what is in people’s hearts.  So, God does not just issue a blanket forgiveness to everybody, regardless of whether they are asking for it or not.

         However, there are also cases where God forgives people because others have prayed for them.  Moses asks God to forgive the people.  Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them” when he is on the cross (Lk. 23:34).  And Stephen, who is filled with the Spirit of Jesus, prays the same prayer as he is stoned to death (Acts 7:60).

         It is important to recognize how God forgives, as we, too, are not asked to offer a blanket forgiveness to all those who are not asking for it.  It is not helpful to tell somebody who is being abused that they have to forgive, because, no – they don’t.  It is not helpful to tell somebody who has been the victim of a horrific crime that they have to forgive.  No – they don’t.  They may eventually get to a point where they are able to forgive, but there is an awful lot of healing that needs to take place along the way.

         The thing about forgiveness, however, is that we really do experience release whether we are giving or receiving it.  When we have confessed our sins to God, and have a desire to head in a new direction, and have received God’s forgiveness, it is like a weight being lifted from our shoulders.  And, oddly enough, that same weight is lifted when we are able to forgive those who have wronged us, or simply to let it go.

         “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us” (Lk. 11:4).  We love because God has first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19).  We stand ready to forgive, for God has first forgiven us through our faith in Jesus Christ.  And, in all these things, we stand in need of the Holy Spirit, who gives us faith and love, and teaches us how to forgive.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Pentecost 14 (NL summer)                        Luke 11:2-4

September 6, 2020

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison