Father’s Day

“Honor your father…” Exodus 20:12.

Carved into the wall on the courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio, are the words, “Obedience to Law is Liberty.”  The quote is by Richard Hooker. However the stone carver left out one word and that is the word “divine.”   The statement should read, “Obedience to Divine Law is Liberty.”   And in this misquote lies our modern dilemma.

The fact is there is a divine moral law at work in the universe. And if an individual should go against that law he will be broken utterly. The same is true for whole civilizations. When a nation goes against divine law the result is shattering.

Historian J. A. Froude wrote, “One lesson and one lesson only, history may be said to repeat with distinctness, that the world is built somehow on moral foundations that, in the long run, it is well with the good, and in the long run it will be ill with the wicked.”  And in the Bible we have revealed to us that moral foundation. I believe it to be none other than the Ten Commandments.

We come to the fifth commandment, not man’s law but divine law, and even more dramatically, carved into the stone tablets of Mount Sinai by the finger of God and carried down to mankind by Moses.  Indeed, the Ten Commandments were written on two tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12). It seems they must have been divided, five on the left tablet and five on the right one. But there is a more logical division.

The first four laws deal with a person’s relationship with God, while the last six commandments have to do with one’s relationship with people. The first four deal with piety, while the last six deal with morality. So it is that in this the fifth commandment we come to a radical shift in the law. We turn from our relationship with God, which forever must come first. Once it is in place then we are ready to consider our morals, our human relationships. And with this in mind, we turn to the first of the six “people laws.”

With the fifth commandment one runs right into his parents. And why not? Parents are indeed the first people human beings come in contact with!  The Law reads “Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”  The key word in this law is honor. In the Hebrew honor means to show respect and obedience. Note that this law is not requiring an action so much as it is an attitude. The law does not tell us to refrain from cursing our father, not to strike one’s mother, to take out the trash, to care for our parents in old age, to let them live with you, or to give them a certain percentage of one’s income. It simply compels us to honor our parents. And isn’t this broad commandment really inclusive? For if our attitude toward our parents is right then it follows that our behavior will be proper as well.

I chuckle to point out that we have two different versions of this law in Scripture. Exodus 20:12 reads, “Honor your father and your mother.”  But Leviticus 19:3 reverses the order, saying,  “Honor your mother and father.”  Over the centuries Jewish rabbis have been quick to point out that this means both mother and father are to be held in equal esteem by their children. It is not one, but both parents who are due one’s respect.

The nature of this fifth commandment has to do with authority.  Since parents are the first authority a child bumps into, the first law naturally has to do with mother and father. It’s as if God is saying that if you get your respect for authority right at home then you’ll have it right at the school, in the nation, and with the church.

If you reflect on it for two minutes or less it will become immediately apparent that the period of helplessness for a human being is longer than that of any other animal. A baby bird can hatch and fly away within a few weeks but most sociologists agree that a human being takes anywhere from 16 to 25 years to mature and be able to leave home successfully. That’s why when God gives us life He gives us into the care of parents. And there in the home a mother’s and father’s helpfulness makes up for our helplessness.

This law in its broadest sense places parents in charge of a child’s nurture. It is a parent’s job to train a child in what foods to eat, how to pray, drive a car, maintain proper friendships, work productively, worship, and so much more. It is a parent’s job to discipline a child, to correct rebellion, punish profanity, and so forth. It is a parent’s job to care for a child, to attend to those cuts and bruises, sprains and poxes that children are heir to. And it is a parent’s job to provide for his child: to supply the basic need for food, clothing, shelter and warmth.  And all the while the parents are doing this, a child’s attitude should be one of parental respect.

In the Bible again and again one is taught that God protects us through our parents.  For instance, Joseph was warned by God in a dream to take the boy Jesus and flee to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill him (Matthew 2:13). Do you see the parental protection there? God didn’t tell the boy; He told the stepfather. The father’s job was to do it; the child’s job was to honor his father’s decision.

Note what happens when a child dishonors his parents, when the child, not yet mature, rebels and ventures out on his own.  Christ told a parable about a lad who went to his dad and said, “I wish you were dead, but you’re not. So I’m leaving. Just give me my share of the money and I’ll be gone.”  And with that, the boy promptly went out and wasted both himself and his fortune, ending up in a pigsty. It was only after he wised up and returned with an attitude of honor to his father’s protection that the youngster rediscovered peace.

The apostle Paul realized all of these truths. In Ephesians 6:1-3, he commented on this law, saying, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother (This is the first commandment with a promise), that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.’”  Do you see the promise here? God is saying, “Young people, I placed you with your parents because you were born helpless. I protect you through your parents.  It is their duty to provide for you, train and discipline you.  See to it that you cooperate with them.  Keep an attitude of honor toward them.  Believe me, you’ll live longer!”

This fifth commandment, I must point out, is in strict effect over a child until he weds.  Then “a man leaves his father and his mother, cleaves unto his wife, and the two become one.”  They become a new family, potential new parents, and a newly trained and protective authority in the world (Genesis 2:24). So when a child marries, though it no longer means he has to obey his parents, he can still ask for advice; and a son’s love and respect, his duty to care for his parents, is in nowise diminished (I Timothy 5:1-16).

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.