Call no one on earth your father....Sorry Dad

Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.

There is so much in this Sunday's readings that I am almost sad that I am choosing the passage about calling no man father as the subject for today.  Click here to read the passage.  This passage of the Bible is used by anti-Catholics bigots as Biblical proof positive that the Catholic Church goes against Holy Scripture when we call our ministers "Father."  At first sight, you almost have to say that it appears to be black-letter law that Jesus has pronounced here.  So, should we Catholics pack our hymnals and search for a good Bible-thumping fundamentalist church in which to spend our time in on Sunday mornings?  I think not.   Doing so would cheat us out of the intimacy that receiving the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Holy Eucharist and that is something that even the best Bible-thumping preacher cannot provide to us, nor would he or she say that the Eucharist was important as it was just a mere memorial of Jesus, just as one might raise a toast in the local tavern for a patron that has passed away. 

The husband of my mother is my father, he always was, he always will be.  Calling my dad "father" means that this person, to me, is worthy of great respect and is different than all of the other men on earth in that God Himself chose this man to be the one that would participate in creating me and who would raise me and entrust me to the care of God.  So calling my father anything other than father just does not work for me. Did Jesus really mean for me to call my father, "Hey you?"  Of course not. 

If we are to take what Jesus said as black-letter law then we have other problems that our fundamentalist friends fail to see.  We are not to call anyone rabbi either.  Well, they do not see that as a problem.  Very few Church of What's Happening Now have rabbis but they do have teachers.  Teachers are rabbis.  Some of their preachers have gone to school for many years and have achieved great degrees, some as high as doctors of divinity.  Well, they have a problem here too.   Since the title of doctor simply means teacher as well.  And is it legal to call a minister "pastor?"  Using the same reasoning that is used to condemn Catholics the answer is no.  A pastor is a shepherd and in Scripture, Jesus clearly says "I am the good shepherd....there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

What Jesus was doing was telling us not to aspire to titles of honor.  In his time the Pharisees were known for assuming titles that they did not deserve. One hundred and forty-four times in the New Testament the word father is applied to someone who is not Jesus or God.  It is most often applied by one of the apostles to themselves when they call someone their spiritual child. Were the apostles wrong in doing this?  Was error written into the Holy Scripture deliberately by the Holy Spirit?  I think not. 

Catholics, it is okay to call your priest father.  He is to be your spiritual father and your pastor, leading you towards Jesus and helping you perfect yourself little by little.  IT is through the hands of your priest that you are both forgiven for your sins and you receive the Holy Eucharist from those hands.  It is okay, proper, and very Biblical. Don't be bullied by a thumper point out to them the facts and who knows, you might have a seed that one day will sprout and bloom as a Catholic. 

"Call no one on earth your father"

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,

"The scribes and the Pharisees

have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.

Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,

but do not follow their example.

For they preach but they do not practice.

They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry

and lay them on people's shoulders,

but they will not lift a finger to move them.

All their works are performed to be seen.

They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,

greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.'

As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.'

You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.

Call no one on earth your father;

you have but one Father in heaven.

Do not be called 'Master';

you have but one master, the Christ.

The greatest among you must be your servant.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;

but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Some evangelical, fundamentalist, Bible thumping Christians find in Matthew 25 1-12 proof positive that the Catholic Church has gone off the deep end because they call their preachers "father."  It appears when you read the passage that they are correct, but are they?  

If I said "yes" to my rhetorical question, that would end the discussion right here and this would be my shortest blog entry ever.  Sorry, the evangelicals are not correct. But, does it not say in plain English to not call anyone on earth your father?  It most certainly does say that. But, Jesus is using hyperbole or exaggeration to make a point.  The point He is making is not prohibiting the title of father, otherwise, what do you call the husband of your mother?  

In order to understand this passage of scripture you really have to read it from the beginning and see what Jesus is actually telling us.  He tells us the Scribes and the Pharisees make up rules that they themselves do not keep.  It is for this reason, that He says to not call anyone Rabbi which is another word for teacher.  When it comes to the word father, we have to call no man father who does not deserve that title. 

In the Bible itself, there are instances where the word father is used by personages such as Paul.  For example, we have this passage: 

 "I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" 

(1 Cor. 4:14–15).  (*)

And we hear from Peter, the prime minister of the Kingdom who does not have any problem assuming the role of a father:

 "She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark" (1 Pet. 5:13). (*)

We also hear from the Apostle John: 

John said, "My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1); "No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children follow the truth" (3 John 4). In fact, John also addresses men in his congregations as "fathers" (1 John 2:13–14). (*) 

So we can see that the Apostles themselves were not against being spiritual fathers.  The New Testament has other examples from the mouth of Jesus where he refers to "Father Abraham."  So, it is not with the title Father that we should have trouble but we should be wise in who we bestow the mantle of the office upon.  

This is another example of what our evangelical friends miss when they hold to a strict reading of the words of the Bible without taking into account the context of the passage and how the people of that time would have interpreted the story. If we take the Bible and interpret everything according to how we think, act, and learn now we are going to make mistakes.  

For me, I will take the interpretation of these passages from my Fathers in faith in the Catholic Church.  The body that kept the Bible pure is the organization that is fit to translate it.  If we don't trust the Church and begin to interpret the Bible ourselves, we could end up with thirty thousand Christian denominations...oh, wait, we do have that! 

 

Things Protestants Don't Understand About The Church - Call No Man Father

"And call no man your father on earth for you have one Father who is in Heaven." 

Matthew Chapter 23 verse 9 is used by anti-Catholics to show that the Catholic Church is not scriptural.  I have to admit that at first blush you may have stumbled upon something that the Catholic Church has gotten wrong. When I greet my pastor, I will say; "Hello Father Joe." An aside here, when I was a boy, in the pre-Vatican Two church, we never called priests by their first name.  For example, back then my pastor was named "Father Shannon."  I never knew his first name!  But we Catholics do call our priests father and it would appear that this is against what is said in the passage quoted above.   As I said, this is at first blush. When we take the time to analyze the passage in light of its context we find a whole different meaning altogether. 

First of all, we have a bit of a problem in that if we apply the teaching exactly as it is written, we have no title for the husband of our mother.  We call that individual by the title of, you guessed it, Father. Well, wouldn't this be an exception?  If we apply the teaching using the fundamentalist point of view then there is no room to call any man father.  Jesus did not make any allowance for this. 

Obviously, something is wrong here.  One of the ten commandments reads; "Honor thy father and mother."  The author of the ten commandments, God Himself, recognizes the existence of a father in human life. 

What Jesus is teaching here is profoundly simple.  He is saying that God, the Heavenly Father, is the ultimate source of all authority.  You cannot just clip this sentence out of context and use it to condemn anything.  You have to review what is being said with this verse as part of the whole. 

Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;  so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.  They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.  They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,  and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues,  and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men.  But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren.  And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.  Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ.  He who is greatest among you shall be your servant;  whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Jesus says we are not to be called rabbi or teacher or father or master. So if a protestant minister is called a good teacher, well we've violated this saying of Jesus.  Actually, Jesus is not condemning these titles per se. He is condemning the attitudes that the scribes and Pharisees clung to while assuming these titles.  He says that they create burdens for the common person that they themselves will not move.  He says that they are hypocrites.  To take away simply that a title should not be used robs this passage of all of its meaning and strength and wisdom. 

The first-century church had no issue with calling priests father or rabbis teacher. Neither did Jesus!  In the story of the rich man and poor Lazarus Jesus calls Abraham Father Abraham.  Paul had no issue with the term father either because he writes in First Corinthians chapter 4 verse 15; "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel."  

If "call no man father" is all of the ammunition that you have to prove that the Catholic Church is not Biblical, well, your proof fails.  Authors such as Lorraine Bittner and Jack Chick are masters at creating issues where there are no issues.  Critics of the Catholic Church argue from a position of weakness because in many cases they are using nonsense generated by people stuck in "that old time religion" who have an ax to grind against the Church but only consult research providers afflicted with the same blindness such as Bittner and Chick

If you truly hate the Catholic Church and want to bring Her crashing to the ground then step out of your ignorance and get the evidence against her directly from Her published teachings.  Hang her with her own rope! The Catechism of the Catholic Church is THE authoritative source to see what Catholics believe and why we believe what we do.  Ignorance can be cured but you have to want to cure it. Of those that hate the Catholic Church there are probably only a handful of people who hate her for what she is.  The rest hate her because of what they THINK she is.  I encourage you to learn more about the Church through the Catechism.  It is amazing with truth can do for a person's soul.