Father’s Day
honors the man in the family bearing resemblance to God the Father, “from whom
every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Ephesians 3:15). This places dads in good company, because
they do many good things for the rest of us, as I realized when I contemplated
my own dad in the light of the Scriptures today.
Like a lot
of traditional dads, my dad was the ‘maintenance man’ of our family, while Mom
was the ‘indoors keeper’ of the family—more or less. Dad did the lawncare, tree trimming,
gutter-cleaning, building maintenance, car repairs, etc. I think this fits in with a passage from Job,
who presents his own understanding of God as Father, engaged in more or less
similar kinds of activities, like setting boundaries for the sea, deploying
clouds as frills (decorations) around the seas edges, and darkness suggesting
the depths beneath, keeping it land-locked so as to prevent it invading areas
where it doesn’t belong. This is God the
Father’s job-description in His version of being a maintenance man: keeping
things running smoothly and in good order (Job 38:1-11).
Like His
human counterparts, God the Father wants His (human) family to be off to a good
start. This is St. Paul’s take on God
the Father (2 Corinthians 5:14-17). He
leaves His imprint on the human family He has gotten underway, sending us
Someone in His own image and likeness: Jesus.
Every father takes pride in the family He leads, seeing traces of his
own image in the children swelling the family ranks. His name (and ours, if we’re faithful
Christians) is as good as gold in certifying the trustworthiness of family
transactions: accounts, purchases, taxes.
The family should be reflective the father’s value system, and this
becomes evident everywhere: in the neighborhood, the school, in recreational
venues and workplaces. Jesus recognized
this in predicting: “By this shall all men know you are my
followers, by your love for one another” (John 13:35). As St.
Paul says, family members operate on a different level, their own unique traits
and characteristics: whoever is in Christ is a new creation: old ways of identifying the family
may have to pass away and be replaced by new things that do it better. The father is the major influence in setting
the family tone, just like God the Father and the Christian family.
And let’s
not forget the fear factor that insinuates itself into everyone’s life. Fathers are made to offset such fears. This is how Jesus His Son, His own image and
likeness, saw it in proceeding in Mark’s gospel by going to sleep in the boat
struggling to hold its own against a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mark
4: 35-41). Jesus’ trust in His Father’s
oversight and loving care and presence was more than equal to the storm’s fury
threatening His band of followers. And dads carry on that same protective concern
against taunts, bullying, put-downs for the clothes children wear, or the kind
of food they eat, or the entertainment they enjoy. Dads also offset the dangers of a flat tire,
or a broken scooter or malfunctioning skates, or a threatening dog: all
potential threats needing someone to take charge and calm fears down. And that’s the father of the family. With God the Father’s care always close at
hand, the father of the family has an image at hand to be the take-charge guy,
assuring that all is well. That’s how I
remember my dad (and my father-in-law, too!).
The sense of
fatherhood provides the security of management and control, of identity, of
protective care. It embodies a pathway
for coming to know God as Father. And it
identifies a major help in appreciating the man of the house as someone standing
in for the comforting and protective assurance that help is always nearby,
especially when we remember to pray: Our Father, who art in
heaven…
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