Difference between revisions of "Sermon for September 13th, 2015"

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Luke 11:1-4

1He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins,for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Matthew 6:7-13

7When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Teach Us To Pray: Debts and Debtors

Today's sermon is about sin and forgiveness--the fourth phrase in the Lord's prayer.

In a monastery, novices usually go through a period of testing before becoming monks, in order to determine if the monastic life is really a good fit for them. Well, four young novices were at the end of that period, and so their superior told them they would have to undergo one final test: Go out into the world for one night...and sin. You cannot fully appreciate God's grace and forgiveness unless you have experienced it firsthand, so go and sin.

So the novices go out, and the next morning their superior asks each one to report his sin. The first novice nervously steps forward and says, "Last night I took the monastery's van and drove it over the speed limit. Then when my brothers implored me to slow down, I thought some pretty not nice things about them."

The superior said, "That's it? That's the best you could sin? Well, I guess it's something. Say one Hail Mary and drink three sips of the Holy Water, and God will forgive you."

Hearing this, the second novice was feeling pretty smug that his sin would outdo his brother's. He stepped forward and said, "I drank all the communion wine, got roaring drunk, and called the Abbot a bad name. Then I punched brother Roger in the nose."

His superior smiled a little, but then said, "Everyone knows that Brother Roger had it coming to him. Say five Hail Marys and drink ten sips of the Holy Water, and God will forgive you."

Hearing this, the third novice was sure his sin would outdo the first two. He told the superior how he had stolen some money from a little old lady, and used it to spend the night in a house of ill repute.

The superior seemed pretty impressed: "Now that's some serious sinning there. Say ten Hail Marys and drink half of the Holy Water, and God will forgive you."

By now the fourth novice could hardly contain himself, and was nearly doubled over in laughter. The other monks were trying really hard to think what he possibly could have done to outdo them all. The superior sternly told him to get a grip on himself, and report on just how he had sinned.

With a final snicker, the fourth novice composed himself and said, "May God forgive me, Superior. Last night I peed in the Holy Water."

Forgive us, Lord, for our bad jokes, just as we forgive others who joke badly in our presence!

When I became a Presbyterian in my mid-twenties, after having grown up as a Methodist, the hardest part of the transition was probably remembering to say "debts and debtors" in the Lord's prayer, as opposed to "trespasses and those who tresspass against us."

It didn't take me too long to embrace that change, however: Like many Americans, by my mid-twenties I already had student loans, a car payment, a mortgage, and several credit cards. I knew what it meant to be shackled by debt, and the idea of having my debts forgiven sounded pretty good.

Trespassing, on the other hand--while it sounded interesting and maybe even a little fun--was not part of my everyday experience.

The version of the Lord's prayer in Matthew uses debts and debtors, although even this version is slightly different than the one we use in worship: We say, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" but Matthew says "Forgive us our debts as we 'have forgiven' our debtors." Have forgiven--past perfect, an action already completed, rather than an ongoing one.

The version in Luke uses the present tense consistently--like we do in worship--but to confuse the issue, it uses two different verbs (and neither one is "trespass"). "Forgive us our sins,for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us."

The Greek word used in Luke for sins is ἁμαρτία, which is literally "missing the mark." The Greek word used in both Luke and Matthew for debt is ὀφείλημα, which is indeed a financial obligation, something owed, but as much as I would love for this to be a purely financial word, it had a larger meaning, especially in Jewish custom.

Ancient Hebrew society was, like many ancient (and modern!) societies, transactional. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If I accidentally kill your cow, I owe you a cow of equal or better value.

And so if I take away something that belongs to God (like worship or obedience), or if I do something that offends God (like breaking my promises to God) then I owe God something of equal or greater value. In the Old Testament, there is an entire system of sacrifices or rituals, each assigned a value so that you always knew what you had to do in order to balance the equation again, to be right with God.

But what if I can't afford the price of my mistake? What if I accidentally kill your cow, but I don't have a cow of equal value to give you, or the means to acquire one? Well, then I am in debt to you. I am, in a sense, owned by you.

When you take a transactional culture and apply those rules to a person's relationship to God, the overlap between words like debt, sin, and trespass begins to make more sense. Debt is coming up short. Trespassing is going to far. Both are missing the mark, or sin.

A.J. Jacobs, who is a "marginally Jewish" author and journalist, decided to

Matthew vs. Luke vs. Liturgy

F - First, God R - Really Big Things E - Everyday Things S - We're Sorry H - Help Us