"If therefore you are carrying your gift toward the altar, and there you remember that your family member has something against you, Let your gift go from yourself, before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your family member and then come and offer your gift."
In the contest of religious ritual vs. human relationships, Jesus taught the priority of the latter. Even in the very act of carrying your gift toward the altar, the resolution of a perceived problem (with anyone close to us, a family member) takes precedence. In fact, we need to allow the gift that we had been bearing to the altar, to "go from yourself" and then seek out that family member. In Holy Wind Living Breath New Testament one can see the various ways that the Greek word often translated "forgive" is used. In this case we let the very essence of our religious worship, our gift for the altar, "go from ourselves" as we seek the higher priority of positive human relationships. And then we will find the need to forgive or, as HWLB has it, "let go from ourselves" the debts that we feel others owe us.
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