And tough bookkeepers we are when it comes to that ledger. Accounts receivable. You shorted me, and I won't forget it. In my little mind, the debt you owe me is my power over you.

Human nature compares and keeps score. My scorekeeping is even reinforced by my Japanese American culture in which keeping score of rights and wrongs—obligation and duty—oozes through the community like glue. Human sinfulness inclines us to keep score, and the Bible is full of stories of others like us. Think of Cain's and Abel's offerings (Genesis 4:4-5), or Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 37:4), or the story of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23-35). We keep scores that turn into grudges that become toxic—even lethal—to others and ourselves.

To fail to forgive is to condemn yourself. In the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18) Jesus highlights the dismal fate of the one who withholds mercy. Keeping score can be deadly business.

Jesus offers a new way—the forgiveness of debt—a new way of keeping score. Wipe the scorecard clean. The Aramaic word Jesus would use for debt suggests both financial debt and sin as moral debt. Luke uses the Greek word for sins (Luke 11:4) and Matthew uses the Greek word for debts, but the solution is the same: wipe the scorecard clean. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."

In Leviticus 25 we read about the jubilee year. Every 50th year was to be a jubilee for scorecards to be wiped clean, for people to be reunited with their family and property, and for selfish ambition to be put aside. It is a glorious ideal and the inspiration for "Jubilee 2000," a contemporary global movement to cancel the debt of developing nations that will never be able to repay what they owe and the crushing interest.

But in the Old Testament, while jubilee is a lovely idea, we have no record of it ever actually happening. As modern scorekeepers we face the same peril of inaction. Jesus gives us a lovely instruction to forgive, but we decline. We still keep score of debts. I even like to collect a little interest on mine. It's not that I don't pray the Lord's prayer, but I am human and I am still inclined to sin, selfishness and scorekeeping.

To forgive sin is not easy for us. It is God's business. Later in Matthew, in the incident in which Jesus forgave the sin and healed the legs of a paralyzed man, we read, "When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings" (Matthew 9:8). Only God can forgive sin, and on earth that authority comes through God's Son (Matthew 9:6).

To forgive sin is not cheap. Matthew's final word on forgiveness is during the last supper when Jesus says, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28).

To forgive sin is to find freedom: "If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14).

Jesus' new way of keeping score frees us from the burden of our sins, our guilt, our resentments, and our obsession over them. Wipe the score clean. Forget about what is fair. Grace is better. Forgive.

Next month:
A new way of getting rich