In the Lord’s Prayer, or the Disciple’s Prayer, there is a difficult verse that many struggle with: “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” This is the familiar rendering, but more correctly: “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

The heart of what Messiah is teaching us, obviously, is forgiveness. Needless to say, forgiveness is something we all wrestle with from time to time. Still, forgiveness is commanded (cf. Matt. 6:14-15). Why?

In Torah portion וַיֵּלֶךְ/Vayelech, “and he went,” at the feast of Sukkot, Tabernacles, during the public reading of the Torah, debts accumulated during the previous six years were canceled: forgiven. Those who had incurred a debt, due to whatever circumstance, would be released from the debt. This debt was often repaid by indentured servanthood. As the Lord commands:

“At the end of every seven years you are to cancel debts. This is how you are to cancel debts: every creditor is to release what he has loaned to his neighbor. He must not force his neighbor or his brother to repay, the the Lord’s debt cancellation has been proclaimed” (Deut. 15:1-2).

There is a subtle, but profound clue as to the heart of forgiveness, taught my Messiah, and revealed by the release of Shmita. As we know from Scripture, the destruction the first Temple, Solomon’s Temple, was connected to Israel’s failure to observe the Jubilee and, therefore, the Shmita (1 Chron. 36:20-21) since they entered the Promised Land. Why? This raises the question: Who are we to example?

In Deuteronomy 15:2, the Hebrew word for creditor is בַּעַל/ba’al, meaning master, husband, ruler, creditor, and when referring to a foreign god, “lord.” Forgiveness of debt, and the release of the servants/slaves allows for the individual covenant member to reenact the exodus, the release of Israel from Egypt. The Lord is revealing that we cannot remain a בַּעַל/ba’al, or lord of the debt, forever. Why? Israel was to be light to the nations by shining the goodness of God. The commands of release, from Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Matthew 6:12, 14-15 train us to imitate, or follow after, Messiah Yeshua/Jesus.

Just who are we to model to the community and broader society around us? Messiah or pharaoh? The One Who is Lord forever commanded, and exampled release for us. Pharaoh wants to hold in bondage forever.

As Paul teaches us, “For freedom, Messiah set us free – so stand firm, and do not be burdened by a yoke of slavery again” (Gal. 5:1). This is not a freedom to do anything you but, but it is freedom in Messiah to do what you ought. And in keeping with His Word, He equips us to do just that with the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12).

In Deuteronomy 15:13-15 the Torah records, “When you set him free, you are not to send him away empty-handed. You are to surely provide for him from your flocks and threshing floor and winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you are to give to him. You will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you this thing today.”

These gifts allowed the released servant to reenter society, not impoverished, but with dignity. Most importantly, it permitted the newly released servant to appear before the Lord as part of Israel’s ceremonial worship. To appear before the covenant Lord, you had to appear with offering. The one releasing, the former “lord of the debt,” releases them back into the social community and back into the covenant faith community. Restoration.

As difficult as it is to write, when, as the redeemed of the Lord, we hold onto the debt owed us, rather than following Messiah, we are acting as pharaoh, the “lord of the debt.” Then, we set ourselves in bondage to a debt held by the enemy himself.

When we walk out the prayer taught to us by Messiah, we release our debtors, as offense was reckoned as a debt, to reenter the faith community with a clear heart with the Lord.

Friends, we cannot remain a “lord of the debt” forever, but in Him, we will rest in the Lord of exodus forever. Easy? No. Does the debtor always want or ask for the release? No. But we can provide for the cure before the diagnosis of their illness, and walk in the liberty secured by Christ.

Be well. Shalom.

The portion of כִּי-תָבוֹא/Ki Tavo (Deut. 26:1-29:8) “when you come,” begins with a שִׂמְחָה/simcha, a joy. What joy? The presentation of a basket of first-fruits before the Lord.

While the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness are drawing to a close, Moses reminds them of better days ahead. He is saying: “You will enter the Promised Land … You will build homes, families, communities … You will grow crops and plant vineyards … And you will rejoice before the Lord.”

In Deuteronomy 26:11 the Torah says:

וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְכָל-הַטּוֹב, אֲשֶׁר נָתַן-לְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ–וּלְבֵיתֶךָ

“And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.”

What Moses sees, prophetically, is striking. He sees an Israelite approach the Altar on behalf of his family, make a declaration (Deut. 26:5-15), hand the priest a basket of first-fruits, and then Moses sees him settling down, in the presence of God, to rejoice with his family, but also the “Levite, and the outsider in your midst.”

How is a declaration connected to joy? Moses exhorts them to remember the trials and tribulations of, not only their personal history, but the history of our people. Jacob fled the land of promise with his family because of famine, to be recused by his long lost son Joseph. Ultimately, the Egyptians enslaved the family of Israel. The Lord then rescues Israel, leading them out of Egypt, but disobedience led to years of wandering.

The first-fruits offering and the declaration are reminders of the covenant Lord’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise, even while bringing forth joyous fruit from the most difficult of circumstances.

Still, the declaration also confirms that we have not forgotten the least. In Deuteronomy 25:17-19 the Lord reminds Israel of how Amalek treated them along the way, attacking the least among the camp, those lagging behind: the tired and the weary. We are to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.” How?

The answer is in the joy. While standing before the Lord and the priests, the imagined Israelite presents his basket as evidence of God’s promise, but also the evidence of his faithfulness to the Lord’s command, as he says, “I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments” (Deut. 26:13). Forgotten what? To blot out the memory of Amalek by taking care of, rather than discouraging, the “tired and the weary.”

When the Israelite sits down, he does so with his immediate family, but also those of his “house,” and yet broader, “the Levite and the outsider in your midst.” Together we rejoice. We rejoice because of His faithfulness to provide, to deliver, and to bring us together. As Moses says, “you will rejoice in/with all the good that the Lord has given to you and to your house.”

To make this joy we share food, we sing songs, and we share time with each other. The joy of the Lord is an immersive experience! In this, we experience His peace in a more profound way. Troubles, trials, pressures and difficulties, while they yet exist, are laid aside. Rejoicing in the presence of God, tasting and seeing that He is good (Ps. 34:8), and sharing together overcomes the seemingly ever present concerns of life.

The apostle Paul encourages us: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4; cf. 1 These. 5:16). Paul wrote these words while in prison. How was he able to do so without a hint of irony?

Paul is witnessing the preparation and presenting of the first-fruits of his labors unto the Lord (2 Cor. 11:2). He knows well, not only Israel’s trials, but also his own, and how the Lord has kept him through it all (2 Tim 1:12). He has remembered the least (Gal. 2:10). Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto the Lord while in chains together (Acts 16:25-26). Everything that Moses envisioned, at one time or another, Paul relived and exampled for us.

How? Paul looked to the One Who is the Lord’s all sufficient supply (Phil. 4:19), Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. Messiah is the High Priest before Whom, and in Whom we stand (Rev. 1:12-13). He is our deliverer (Col. 1:13; 1 Pet. 2:9). He is the first-fruit among many brethren (Ro. 8:29). He is the fullness of God’s yes and amen promises (2 Cor. 1:20). He has made one family of renewed humanity in Himself (Eph. 2:15). He humbles the great, while caring for the least (Matt. 25:31-46).

When we behold the Gospel, as Paul and the Apostles did, we can also “rejoice always in the Lord, again I say rejoice” in the midst of any trial and circumstance. We will rest in the gracious sufficiency of His sacrifice. We will remember to be on the mission He set us to (Matt. 28:18-20), and in doing so, we will find that we rejoice, not in isolation, but in the company of family, friends, and those who at first glance, appear as strangers. What a blessed joy it is to share in such a holy fellowship.

Be well. Shalom.