1508AFC022015 – Father Forgive Them
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Genesis 50:16-17 –16 So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, 17 ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
This is the first occurrence in the Bible of using the word forgive when asking for forgiveness. The verb in Hebrew is נָשָׂא nasa’ {naw-saw’}. This verb carries with it the idea of carrying away, carrying off, lifting, taking away, to lift up, exalt, support, aid, assist, forgive. Looking at all of that together, the word that comes to my mind is “unburden.” Take away the burden of our guilt. Take away the weight of my sin. Lift away the condemnation for what I – we – you – s/he – they have done. Reuben and Judah somewhat lessened the cruelty of the crime against their brother Joseph. Reuben counseled against killing him, but left the area planning to come back and “rescue him.” But Judah suggested that instead of leaving him in the dry cistern to die that they sell him to the caravan of Ishmaelites passing by. When Reuben got back, the deed was done, and the rest is His-Story. Out of that horrible scenario, God provided for the salvation of Joseph’s family during a great famine, and eventually, our salvation from our burden of sin, too.
All of us at some time feel burdened by our sins. We know our sins can be forgiven, but we also know that there are consequences for sin that sometimes cannot be avoided. How often have you seen a convicted murderer forgiven by a victim’s family, but still go to jail for 25 to life? Forgiveness removes the debt, but does not always eliminate the consequences; not always. Sometimes even the temporal consequences are diminished or eliminated, and that comes usually out of love, compassion, or pity. It’s one of those WWJD things. He didn’t want us to be overwhelmed with sin. That’s a common theme in the Psalms. Here are a few examples:
Psalm 38:4 – For my iniquities have gone over my head; they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.
Psalm 130:3 – If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
Psalm 51:3-5 – 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
There’s no getting around it; we are sinners, and we need God’s forgiveness without which eternal life is impossible. How do we get forgiveness? When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he included the idea of forgiveness. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” or “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” There are two ways to say that prayer, and they are different. The Lord’s Prayer is found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Matthew’s in is Matthew 6:9-15. Luke’s is in Luke 11:1-4. (Notice that the Doxology – the short hymn of praise at the end of the prayer – appears in the King James Version, and several others, but not all versions. Take a look at the link for Doxology to see what I mean.) Back to the Lord’s Prayer: In Matthew 6:12 we read either debts or sins. In Luke 11:4 we read, “forgive us our sins as we forgive everyone indebted to us.” In both versions, the idea of trespasses comes after the completion of the prayer. Jesus says that we cannot be forgiven if we do not forgive. It’s that pesky little word “as.” Forgive us as we forgive others. Love one another as I have loved you. Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Be merciful as your Father is merciful. That as has been identified here previously as being like an identity sign ≡. That “as” means “in precisely this same way.” Bottom line: Forgiveness isn’t complete unless we are forgiving.
The Greek word for forgive is ἄφες aph’-es {af’-ace}, to disregard, to let go, give up a debt, forgive, to remit.
Debts = ὀφειλήματα opheilēmata {of-i’-lay-mah-tah} something which is justly or legally due, a debt, and in a religious sense, sin.
Debtors = ὀφειλέταις opheiletes {of-i-let’-ace}, one held by some obligation, bound by some duty, one who has not yet made amends to whom he has injured; one who owes God penalty or whom God can demand punishment as something due, i.e. a sinner.
Trespasses = παραπτώματα (paraptōmata) {par-ap’-to-mah-tah} = transgressions, offenses, misdemeanors, wrongdoings, indiscretions, “guilty-pleasures.”
For Catholics the idea of sins, debts, or transgressions is summed up in the word trespasses, which word we find in Matthew 6:14-15 – 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Also see Matthew 18:32-35 and Mark 11:26) Christ’s Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension cinched the deal for every living soul who believes that Jesus is the only begotten Son of Almighty Everliving God. Jesus came to preach the Gospel and to deliver us from the wages of sin which is death. He did that through his intercessions for forgiveness of our sins by becoming sin itself. Everything he did – every single thing – was geared toward one thing: Reconciliation with God through the forgiveness of sins. When we look at the seven statements Jesus made during his crucifixion, it is little wonder, then, that the first statement he made was to ask God the Father to forgive the murders of God the Son.
That word – FORGIVE – may mean a little more to us if we understand how God intended to use it. It started with the abuse of Joseph who began his service to God as a slave in Egypt and rose to be a Vizier and Chief Steward in the House of Pharaoh. It was Joseph who forgave his brothers of their duplicity. Throughout the history of Israel thereafter, forgiveness was a gift from God, a gift of love – love for God and love for neighbor. Jesus loved each of us enough to take the punishment for our sin, to pay our debt, to wipe out our transgressions great and small. That was the first thing on his mind while he was fixed to the cross in horrible agony. Forgiveness has a price, and he paid it in full. Thank God for that. So how did Jesus use that word “forgive?”
Luke 23:34 – Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
Can we say, though, that we don’t know what we’re doing when we sin? I don’t think so, do you? He forgives us anyway whenever we humble our hearts and seek that forgiveness. Psalm 51:7 – New Living Translation – The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. Jesus forgave his executioners and thereby began the forgiveness of the whole world.
That is just SO AWESOME!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
