“And Forgive Us Our Trespasses As We
Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us”
Colossians 3:12-13

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost—July 21, 2019

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

We continue our summer sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer can be summed up with the old JOKE about a woman who went to the beauty parlor for a makeover.  Afterward she looked in the mirror and said, “You didn’t do me justice!”  The beautician replied, “Madame, it is not JUSTICE that you should seek, but MERCY.”

In the first part of this petition, we acknowledge that God’s justice would mean our doom, and so we pray instead for mercy: “Forgive us our trespasses.”  In the second part of this petition we pray for God’s help to respond to his mercy, by showing toward others not the justice their faults deserve, but the same mercy God has shown to us: “As we forgive those who trespass against us.”

“Forgive us our trespasses” is, first of all, a confession of your own sins.  English translations sometimes have “debts” and “debtors” instead of “trespass” and “trespasses.”  The original Greek word includes both concepts: a “debt” owed to someone because of a “trespass” against them. 

You may remember 25 years ago when a Life Flight helicopter crashed in Kansas City.  That led to a famous court case, when it was revealed the crash was caused by a known engine defect the manufacturer had covered up, and the jury ordered them to pay the pilot’s widow $350 million dollars—the biggest wrongful death award in U.S. history.  That huge debt was owed because of a terrible trespass.

In Romans, Paul tells us the terrible DEBT we all owe GOD, because of our trespasses against him and his will: “For the wages of sin is DEATH.”  The helicopter company appealed the $350 million dollar judgment to a higher court, but the appeal was denied.  In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to appeal our sentence of death to the highest court, to God himself.

It does no good in God’s court to plead innocence, for 1st John says, “If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  It does no good  in God’s court to compare yourself to others and argue at least you’re not as bad as them, for the Lord says in Ezekiel, “The soul that sins, that soul shall die,” regardless of what the sin may be.  It does no good  in God’s court to seek leniency on the basis of your good works, for Isaiah says, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”  Instead, Jesus teaches us to admit our guilt and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court: “Forgive us our trespasses.”

The heavenly court will never deny your appeal for mercy.  Psalm 130 says, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness.”  The Lord says in Isaiah, “I blot out your transgressions . . . and remember your sins no more.”  First John explains WHY the Lord has mercy on us: “We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. . .  The blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. . .  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The Good News that Christ paid for the sins of the whole world can be a little abstract.  That Good News also applies to you, personally: YOUR sins are all forgiven.  When Martin Luther first became a monk he was so tormented by his sins that nothing would comfort him, until one day an older monk said to him, “Brother Martin, do we not say in the Creed, ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins’?  We are not merely to believe that there is forgiveness for [others]; the command of God is that we believe there is forgiveness for our own sins.”  That is really the essence of the Christian faith: YOUR sins are cancelled, wiped away, forgiven, because YOUR debt was charged to God’s Son and he paid it all for you.  And so whenever you pray “Forgive us our trespasses,” God always says, “I forgive.”

That is the first part of this petition, we pray God to forgive us our trespasses.  In the second part of this petition we ask God for help to respond to his forgiveness toward us by in turn forgiving those who trespass against us.

You’ve heard the saying, “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”  The same thing’s been said another way: to repay good with evil is like the devil; to repay evil with evil is like an animal; to repay good with good is only human; but to repay evil with good, that is godlike.  That’s what you are asking for in this prayer.  Like Joseph forgiving his brothers in today’s Old Testament Reading, you are asking God’s help to be godlike in forgiving even those who grievously trespass against you.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” does not mean that our forgiving others is meritorious, that God forgives us BECAUSE we forgive our fellow man.  It’s the other way around: Because we have been freely forgiven by God, we respond by forgiving others, the same way God has forgiven us. 

Jesus told a parable to illustrate this: “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Paul says in Ephesians, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore.”  Because we have been freely forgiven by God we respond by imitating him, forgiving others the same way he has forgiven us.  As Paul says in today’s Epistle Reading from Colossians, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  In the first part of this petition we acknowledge our sin and we pray—humbly but confidently—for God’s mercy.  In the second part of this petition we pray for God’s help to respond to his mercy by imitating him, being godlike in forgiving those who trespass against us.