Jesus does not leave us much time to dwell on our desire or need for material provision.  His attitude, while cognizant of our propensity for anxiety over such things, continues to be one of confidence in the providential benevolence of his Father.  If God so willingly and easily cares for the sparrow and clothes the lily in splendor then will he not also freely care for our needs and meet our desires.  Given the severe persecution of the early church and the poverty engendered by that persecution, the New Testament is remarkably free of fear about troubles in this material world.  To the contrary, the early church seems to be exceptional in its generosity and joy in the face of hardship.  No doubt this lack of anxiety is a reflection of the attitude of Jesus, modeled by his apostles and other disciples.  One would expect the man who can turn stone into bread, or feed five thousand with a few loaves and fish, or who can miraculously generate a catch of fish so great it threatens to sink the boat, to travel easily without a “secure” place to lay his head.  Apparently, those who traveled with him were also expected to demonstrate that quiet confidence in God’s bountiful provision and to celebrate the victory that overcomes the world.  Apparently, we who follow are expected also to exhibit a certain reliance on his care.

However, Jesus does direct us in his model prayer to implore the Father’s help in a matter much more important than mere food or other material concerns.  Our most pressing, even desperate, need is for forgiveness.  Our sin separates us from God.  As it drove Adam from the garden, so also it drives us from God’s presence.

God has created a universe that operates in accordance with principles so clear and compelling that even unbelievers refer to them as laws, the law of gravity, the laws of thermodynamics, Boyle’s law, for example.  But in the case of mankind, he created beings who, at least in the areas of morality and obedience to God’s commands, are capable of lawlessness.  Scripture often refers to sin as acts of lawlessness (1 John 3:4).  In creating us in His own image, God necessarily also gave us the option of distancing ourselves from Him in disobedience.  In the same way that darkness cannot share space with light, we cannot in our lawless and sinful state exist in the presence of the holy and righteous God.  In a certain sense, all the wishing for relationship we have seen in the model prayer so far is for naught if this request is not answered.  We may adore God and hallow His name, we may worship him and seek his will to be done, we may acknowledge his provision and rely on him for our every need, but if He does not choose to forgive us our sins and somehow, by His own power and will, to bring us into His presence, we will remain lost and condemned.  We cannot, by all our strength and will, save ourselves.  The giving of the gift remains in the hands of the giver.  We are saved by his grace.

At this point, the model prayer of Jesus takes a difficult turn.  “Forgive us,” he says, “as we forgive others.”  Less the point be missed or misunderstood, he explains it in the verses immediately following the prayer.  “If you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you.”  Later in his gospel, Matthew will recount Jesus’ telling of a parable about a forgiven yet unforgiving servant, and the terrible, torturous justice that was meted out to him.    Jesus once again asserts, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

As Christians, we are overwhelmed by God’s unconditional, agape love.  We are astonished by his triumphant mercy (James 2:13) and the unmerited favor of his grace.  We are grateful beyond words that he is a God of compassion who seeks and works always for our good (Romans 8:28).  Yet, he is also a God who demands that his worshippers forgive, who conditions his own forgiveness on their willingness to also forgive.  God calls us his children (1 John 3:16)  and describes us as members of his own household (Ephesians 2:19), his family.  Perhaps by painful, personal experience you know the destructive impact unforgiveness can have within a family.  A heart that will not forgive is an affliction to the one who owns it, but more grievous yet, the corrosive power of unforgiveness eats away at the relationships with those most dear to the unforgiver.  Ironically, the object of the unforgiveness, the person who has committed an act for which forgiveness is required, is often unscathed, sometimes oblivious, to the cancerous acrimony he or she has engendered.

Theologians have labored over this concept of God’s seeming conditional forgiveness and have come to a wide range of explanations for the meaning of this and similar passages.  When understood within the whole context of Scripture, these words in the model prayer ought not to undermine the believer’s confidence of salvation just because he or she struggles with forgiving when wounded by another.  However, the one who nurtures a grudge, who knowingly and willfully refuses to offer a pardon or extend the grace of forgiveness, should consider whether his faith is real.  Hurt is unavoidable in this world and hurt naturally gives way to anger, expressed or not.  Anger, left unresolved, grows surely into bitterness and bitterness is a deadly poison, the antidote to which is forgiveness.

Wherever your theology may lead you in respect to forgiveness and salvation, of this at least we may be certain – the one who refuses to forgive those who trespass against him will never find real peace and never be fully pleasing or obedient to God.   The failure of one to forgive breaks relationship – breaks faith – with the one unforgiven, with others who care and are cared for, and with God.  No part of the model prayer has greater consequence than this.

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.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead in not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew  6:9-13

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen