31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Malachi 1:14-2:2,8-10 | Psalm 130(131) | 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9,13 | Matthew 23:1-12
You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one master, and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ. (Matthew 23:8-10)
As a child, I was taken regularly to a dentist near my parish, with a strict admonishment to address him as “uncle”. Since I’d been taught to show respect to my elders with such titles, I naturally assumed this was just more of the same.
It was only at my grandfather’s wake, when this same dentist came to my aid as I fainted, that I found out that he was literally my uncle.
(To be pedantic, he was actually my grandmother’s godson, but from a Chinese familial perspective, he certainly wasn’t “set apart” from actual blood relatives.)
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
This passage from St. Matthew frequently works Protestants into a lather. “How dare you call your priests ‘Father’ when Jesus Himself said it was verboten?!?!”
I wonder what they call their biological male parents then, and if this misconception is one of the main reasons so many Westerners address their parents by name instead of relationship.
Setting aside the ancient commandment from God Himself to “honour thy (earthly) father and mother”, Jesus was actually admonishing listeners not to honour those preoccupied with their own honour: those who wear “look at me!” clothes, and demand respect from others while treating them with disdain and a distinct lack of kindness.
I’ve been fortunate to have never encountered a priest with such a level of arrogance. If I had, I’m sure having to greet them with “Good morning, Father!” would stick in my craw, even if Jesus didn’t see fit to remind us all.
Conversely, I can imagine how it must rankle our priests, when they behold people who go “God bless you, Father!”, then run off and do un-Christian deeds like being nasty to the neighbors. Such hypocritical shows of respect must surely wound them deeply.
Our clergy have been charged down the millenia with shepherding us toward the Kingdom of God, serving as our spiritual fathers in this world to prepare us for the next. Theirs is an arduous and lonely task, so if we can help by:
listening carefully to their exhortations,
discerning the rightness therein, and
doing the righteous things,
it behooves us to Get Things Done for the glory of Our Father in heaven, and thereby showing proper respect for the title by which we address them.
Lord Jesus, help us show respect to the shepherds You left us, in deed and not just in word. Amen.