Father’s Day: The
Model Father (Text: Luke 15:11-32)
The progressive reformer, Jane Addams, in 1911 wrote, “Poor
Father has been left out in the cold. He doesn’t get much recognition. It would
be a good thing if he had a day that would mean recognition of him.”
Sixty-one years later, President Richard Nixon signed a bill into law making Father’s Day a national holiday.
Calendar ah aom loh hangin laisiangtho ah om “‘Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you'” (Exodus 20:12).
It is a command with promise.
4 Years: My daddy can do anything.
7 Years: My dad knows a lot, a whole lot.
8 Years: My father doesn’t quite know everything.
12 Years: Oh well, naturally Father doesn’t know everything.
14 Years: Father? Hopelessly old-fashioned.
21 Years: Oh that man is out of date. What did you expect?
25 Years: He knows a little bit about it, but not much.
30 Years: Must find out what Dad thinks about it.
35 Years: A little patience, let’s get Dad’s meaning first.
50 Years: What would Dad have thought about it?
60 Years: My dad knew literally everything.
65 Years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.
Sixty-one years later, President Richard Nixon signed a bill into law making Father’s Day a national holiday.
Calendar ah aom loh hangin laisiangtho ah om “‘Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you'” (Exodus 20:12).
It is a command with promise.
4 Years: My daddy can do anything.
7 Years: My dad knows a lot, a whole lot.
8 Years: My father doesn’t quite know everything.
12 Years: Oh well, naturally Father doesn’t know everything.
14 Years: Father? Hopelessly old-fashioned.
21 Years: Oh that man is out of date. What did you expect?
25 Years: He knows a little bit about it, but not much.
30 Years: Must find out what Dad thinks about it.
35 Years: A little patience, let’s get Dad’s meaning first.
50 Years: What would Dad have thought about it?
60 Years: My dad knew literally everything.
65 Years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.
We are a society searching for a model father.
Sociologist Michael S. Kimmel, writing in the June, 1986, issue of Psychology Today, states:
we see fathers as safe and nurturing
Sociologist Michael S. Kimmel, writing in the June, 1986, issue of Psychology Today, states:
we see fathers as safe and nurturing
In another Father’s Day book, Finding Our Fathers:
The Unfinished Business of Manhood, Harvard University psychologist Samuel
Osherson
Most men feel that their fathers lack the emotional strength to tolerate openness with their sons. It’s a man’s world. It’s a world of work, solitary pursuits and isolation.
Most men feel that their fathers lack the emotional strength to tolerate openness with their sons. It’s a man’s world. It’s a world of work, solitary pursuits and isolation.
“So he’s (President
Reagan) not the most naturally equipped to be everybody’s idea of a perfect
father. He makes up for it by being a genuinely kind and nice person.” Young Reagan
went on to note that, as a result of his own difficult background, the
president was a person who was difficult to get to know well. 40th
president of USA.
Is there any model? The answer is yes …. and no. There is no
such thing as a perfect human father. Some do it better than others, and, as a
result, this comes easier for them. None of us is perfect. I try hard to be a
good father, and I fail. But I am not giving up. As a Christian, I know I can’t
do it perfectly.
But I do have a model.
One day Jesus told a story that is probably the most appreciated story in the entire Bible. It has come to be known as the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.” We find it recorded in Luke 15:11-32.
One day Jesus told a story that is probably the most appreciated story in the entire Bible. It has come to be known as the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.” We find it recorded in Luke 15:11-32.
I. The model father teaches the truth from infancy up.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
Discipline is
essential to this teaching. Moses incorporates these words into his address.
“Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God
disciplines you” (Deuteronomy 8:5).
And he warns not only fathers but mothers to live themselves
under the authority of God’s teachings.
As we live under His authority, what we teach our children about the ways of God takes on more existential relevance to them. If I teach them one mode of conduct and live under a different mode myself, they will see the hypocrisy of it all. I must live under the teaching and the discipline of God, even as I endeavor to faithfully teach and discipline my children.
As we live under His authority, what we teach our children about the ways of God takes on more existential relevance to them. If I teach them one mode of conduct and live under a different mode myself, they will see the hypocrisy of it all. I must live under the teaching and the discipline of God, even as I endeavor to faithfully teach and discipline my children.
II. The model father has respect for individual
autonomy.
What would be your reaction if one of your children came to
you, thumbing his nose at you, demanding that you give him total freedom and
his fair share to finance his rebellion? That’s a tough one, isn’t it?
It was not unusual for a Jewish father to distribute his estate before he died if he wished to retire from the actual management of his business affairs. Under the law, there was a clear delineation of his financial responsibilities. The father could have said no. He could have tried to blackmail him, telling him how much more he would have in the long run if he stayed around home. He could have played the comparison game, saying, “Why aren’t you a good son like your older brother? What are you trying to do, break your mother’s heart?” You know those little games we play!
No, this father was prepared to stand by the teachings and the humble modelings that he and his wife had shared from the infancy of these two boys.
It was not unusual for a Jewish father to distribute his estate before he died if he wished to retire from the actual management of his business affairs. Under the law, there was a clear delineation of his financial responsibilities. The father could have said no. He could have tried to blackmail him, telling him how much more he would have in the long run if he stayed around home. He could have played the comparison game, saying, “Why aren’t you a good son like your older brother? What are you trying to do, break your mother’s heart?” You know those little games we play!
No, this father was prepared to stand by the teachings and the humble modelings that he and his wife had shared from the infancy of these two boys.
Joseph Dream
He was willing to evaluate each one of them for who they
were as individuals. He knew their strengths and weaknesses. He was
prepared to let this young man be an adult.
He wasn’t perfect. He knew that God, in His creative design, had not made human persons robots, automatons, who function as mechanical men and women. To be created human was to have freedom to obey or to disobey. This model father had respect for the individual autonomy of each of his sons. So, without preaching a doomsday sermon, he divided his estate. He gave his son what he wanted, and he bid him farewell.
He wasn’t perfect. He knew that God, in His creative design, had not made human persons robots, automatons, who function as mechanical men and women. To be created human was to have freedom to obey or to disobey. This model father had respect for the individual autonomy of each of his sons. So, without preaching a doomsday sermon, he divided his estate. He gave his son what he wanted, and he bid him farewell.
III. The model father won’t stand in the way of consequences.
No, the model father won’t stand in the way of consequences. He is not in the business of premature rescue. As much as his heart is breaking, and he knows that there is trouble ahead, he lets go.
I ask you and I ask myself: Is this the kind of father, is this the kind of mother we are? Are we willing to faithfully teach and model? Do we respect the autonomy of our children as they come of age? Are we willing to let them walk away from us, no longer nurtured and controlled by us, but free to live in a tough, hard world unprotected?
The reality is we haven’t got much choice. If we don’t let them go, they are going to rebel anyway, aren’t they? How much better to take the initiative and say, “Hey, this is your life. I’ve done the best I can. It hasn’t been that good at some points. With a big hug and perhaps a few tears, we are prepared to send them off to seek their own fortune, to face whatever may be the consequences-positive, negative, or in between.
IV. The model father has a love that refuses to give up.
We may have caused some of the rebellion. If so, we need to make our overtures. Perhaps a phone call or a letter that says, “I’m sorry. Forgive me for what I said. I love you. I want a restored relationship with you.” Somehow, I am never able to rid myself of the picture of that father who, as he worked his field, was constantly scanning the horizon. Jesus alerts us of that fact. For He says, “But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). His was a love that refused to give up.
We may have caused some of the rebellion. If so, we need to make our overtures. Perhaps a phone call or a letter that says, “I’m sorry. Forgive me for what I said. I love you. I want a restored relationship with you.” Somehow, I am never able to rid myself of the picture of that father who, as he worked his field, was constantly scanning the horizon. Jesus alerts us of that fact. For He says, “But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). His was a love that refused to give up.
V. The model father is forgiving.
What would your reaction be if your child did to you what the prodigal did to his father? Being a preacher, I have a sneaking suspicion that I would probably have written a sermon titled, “I Told You So!” He runs, embraces his son, kisses him. Thuak in mawhna maisak na gah
The son gives the speech he has carefully prepared, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:18).
What would your reaction be if your child did to you what the prodigal did to his father? Being a preacher, I have a sneaking suspicion that I would probably have written a sermon titled, “I Told You So!” He runs, embraces his son, kisses him. Thuak in mawhna maisak na gah
The son gives the speech he has carefully prepared, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:18).
VI. The model father is a celebrative person.
He doesn’t even give his son a chance to ask to be a servant. He calls for the best robe. In the Hebrew tradition, that robe stands for honor. He calls for a ring. The ring stands for authority. If a man gave another his signet ring, it was the same as giving him power of attorney. He calls for shoes. The shoes stand for a son as opposed to a slave. The children of the family wore shoes. Often the slaves didn’t. The slaves dream, in the black spiritual, of a time when, “All God’s chillun got shoes.” Shoes were the sign of freedom. He calls for a banquet, a feast to make merry, “for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:24).
He doesn’t even give his son a chance to ask to be a servant. He calls for the best robe. In the Hebrew tradition, that robe stands for honor. He calls for a ring. The ring stands for authority. If a man gave another his signet ring, it was the same as giving him power of attorney. He calls for shoes. The shoes stand for a son as opposed to a slave. The children of the family wore shoes. Often the slaves didn’t. The slaves dream, in the black spiritual, of a time when, “All God’s chillun got shoes.” Shoes were the sign of freedom. He calls for a banquet, a feast to make merry, “for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:24).
Jesus had a very interesting way of bringing this story to a
conclusion. It ends with the father’s response to the elder brother’s sneering
accusation that there had never been a party for him but that this no-good
brother who had devoured the father’s hard-earned money with harlots ends up
getting the fatted calf killed in his honor.
Our final reward isn’t the privilege of sitting back and saying, “Wasn’t I a good father?” Granted, we’ll have some joys that come from the hoped-for friendship with our children. But the final reward will be when the real model father, God himself, looks us in the eye and says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into your eternal rest.”
Our final reward isn’t the privilege of sitting back and saying, “Wasn’t I a good father?” Granted, we’ll have some joys that come from the hoped-for friendship with our children. But the final reward will be when the real model father, God himself, looks us in the eye and says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into your eternal rest.”
Remember that the model is God. You and I are not God. We
are not perfect. The key is that I am willing to say, “I am sorry,” when I am
wrong. The key is that I am willing to stand by the children God has given to
me when they are wrong.
Father’s Day 2005, June 19
Mark 5;2-24 Ncv
21when Jesus Went In The Boat Back To The Other Side Of The
Lake, A Large Crowd Gathered Around Him There. 22a Leader Of The Synagogue,
Named Jairus, Came There, Saw Jesus, And Fell At His Feet. 23he Begged Jesus,
Saying Again And Again, "My Daughter Is Dying. Please Come And Put Your
Hands On Her So She Will Be Healed And Will Live." 24so Jesus Went With
Him.
68 Million Of Our Nation’s 94 Million Men Don’t Attend
Any Church. This, In Spite Of The Fact, That 86% Of Them Grew Up With Some Sort
Of Church Background. . Research Has Revealed That If A Child Is The First
Person In A Household To Become A Christian, There Is A 3.5 Percent Probability
That Everyone Else In The Household Will Become Christians. Not Very High At
All. If The Mother Is The First To Accept Christ, The Percent Goes Up And 17
Percent Of The Homes Will See The Remainder Of Its Members Trust Christ. But If
The Father Is First, There Is A 93 Percent Probability That Everyone Else In
The Household Will Follow.
When Father Goes First Spiritually, Good Things Happen At
Home. Let’s All Pray Together That God Will Call Even More Men To Spiritual
Revival And Renewal. Never Has There Been A Generation In Our Nation, Where
This Has Been More Important Than Now.
Now, One Of Those Same Religious Leaders Comes To Him. He
Is In Great Need. His Name Is Jairus, And He Is A Father, He Has One Child, A
Daughter About 12 Years Old. We Don’t Know How He Personally Has Responded To
Jesus. But On This Occasion, He Comes. His Daughter Is Sick Unto Death. He
Tells Jesus, She May Already Be Dead. I Have Never Faced This Situation, And
Hope That I Never Have To Go Thru It. But, I Have Had Sick Children, And For
Me, I Would Rather Go Thru It Than Have Them Go Thru It. This Father Falls At
The Feet Of Jesus, Much Like The Demon Possessed Man, But Jairus Falls
Believing. He Earnestly Pleads With Jesus, He Wont Take No For An Answer. If
You Think About How Medicine Worked In Those Days, This Man Doesn’t Have Any
Other Options. Jesus, If You Will Come And Lay Your Hand On My Daughter She
Will Live. This Is Faith. This Is A Father Who Loves His Child. He Will Do What
Ever It Takes. If Only Our Heart Was Like That For Our Community, For Our Kids,
Imagine What God Would Do.