34: 6-7 like this:
‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
In these passages we see God’s nature revealed. He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, etc. God forgives iniquity and transgression and sin. God forgives. Good Jewish men and women understood that forgiveness is God’s work. Even before Moses, there was Joseph. Do you remember the story of Joseph and his brothers? They wrong him, he gets sold into slavery, put into jail, then elevated to lead Egypt out of famine. The brothers come and in the end they ask him to forgive them. He responds, “Am I in the place of God” (Genesis 50:19)? In other words, God forgives. That is his job.
We also can follow the story of God through Moses as he represents God to the pharaoh and to Israel. God is bringing the people out of slavery and teaching them how to be his people. He wants partners on the earth. Moses is asked to forgive the sins of pharaoh (Ex. 10:17). Moses advocates for the Israelites to God and asks God to forgive them after they worship the golden calf (32:32). He prays, “In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now” (Num. 14:19). Again , it is God who forgives.
We also read the psalmists asking God to forgive. “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults” (Ps 19:12) and “For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great” (Ps 25:11) Still again, God forgives.
But then Jesus comes, the human image of God, only doing what the Father tells
him to do. And he teaches that the kingdom of God is here. His appearance on earth is the beginning of a new world order. In the upside down new kingdom of God people are invited to join God. They are given authority and the invitation to join God in the powerful work of forgiveness. The only difference in the Amida and The Lord’s Prayer is that humans are now invited to partner with God in forgiving. “Forgive others …” We are given the power and authority that previously was only God’s. God, in the person of Jesus, God incarnate, teaches his disciples that they are now invited to partner with God in forgiveness. This is incredible news!
Let’s Look a Little Deeper
Jesus continues to teach his disciples what it looks like to live in the new world of kingdom come. It isn’t different from what God always intended. This is why Matthew writes that Jesus came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. Jesus is showing his disciples and us what it looks like to actually carry out the law given to Moses. God’s law, in his good kingdom, is about compassion, hospitality, mercy, justice, and forgiveness. Only now, with the resurrection of Jesus and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit living in us, are we able to do what the Israelites were always invited to do but not able. We are invited to join God in the remarkable work of bringing the kingdom on earth. We are given power and authority to forgive (among other things). We are invited to forgive those who wrong us.
If we follow Jesus through the gospel stories, we witness him teaching and then demonstrating his teachings. This is the way of a good rabbi. He teaches about his kingdom and how it works and then he shows his disciples what it looks like in the world. We witness Jesus including those in the extreme margins of his society to come into his kingdom- a man with leprosy, a Roman centurion’s servant, folks oppressed by demons, and a man who experienced paralysis with some faith-filled friends.