father by nature, father by sufferance - 2nd week lent tuesday

Our gospel today forbids us to call each other Rabbi which means teacher, it forbids us to call each other Father and it forbids us to call each other master – for there is only one teacher, there is only one Father in heaven, and there is only one master who is the Christ.

St. Jerome in his commentary on this passage of our gospel says, “It is one thing to be father or master by nature, another by sufferance.”  By sufferance we mean amo na ina ang naandan ta nga itawag sa ila, amo na ina ang convention in referring to them.  But the more important note here is this: our fathers are fathers not by nature because they did not create our being.  God created our being, we owe our existence to God, we could not have existed, we could not have been born if God did not allow it.  Now since God according to Jerome is our real Father to whom we owe our existence, we therefore owe God our primary allegiance.  This assertion is loaded.

First, it tells us to know our place in the scheme of things.  Yes it is correct, a child is the fruit of the love of the parents, the parents may choose to have a child or not, but it is God who gives the child, a child is a gift, God owns the child and God entrusts this to the parents to rear and form them in God’s behalf.  God as the author of life owns the child, it is God who calls the child to a particular vocation, it is God who directs the child to a particular purpose and mission in life.

When this is not clear, things become difficult in the family.  Remember the passage when John the Baptist was born?  How they wanted to name him like this and like that, how they already wanted to control and chart the child’s destiny even at such an early stage, only to realize that God has other plans for the child.  And so they ended up with the question, what will this child be? This is a question of a people who have finally realized that they are not the owners of the child but only the stewards, the caretaker of the child.  And part of the attitude of being a steward is to never lose that sense of wonder as the destiny of the child slowly unfolds, as the destiny of the child is slowly revealed, always asking as the neighbors and relatives of Zechariah and Elizabeth did, what will this child be?

Second, St. Jerome in his commentary said that it is not only by way of convention that we call others as fathers or masters or teachers.  We also call them fathers or masters or teachers from their resemblance to the real master, from their resemblance to the real father and teacher.  This is also a challenge for us especially those of us who are called daddy or mommy, nanay or tatay, father or mother or sister.  We can only be rightfully called these titles when we resemble the Real Parent of all who is God and when we resemble the Real Master, the real Teacher, Christ himself.  You call me a priest a Father – do I resemble the real Father, do I resemble the real teacher?  Big question, and I believe we all need to ask this about ourselves often.  How far do I resemble the Father’s love and care in my relationship to my children?  Am I forgiving like the Loving Father in the gospel to the Prodigal Son? Do I resemble that loving Father in the gospel who will not give my son or daughter a scorpion when he or she asks for bread?

In this season of lent let us continue to examine ourselves as to how we have lived up to our names and titles and the responsibilities that goes with them.