“How come you Catholics call men ‘father,’
in direction violation of Jesus’ command: ‘Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven’? This is just another example of Catholics
following man-made traditions and ignoring the Word of God. That’s why you’re
not real Christians!”
* *
*
Wow, have you ever been confronted
with these questions by a friend or co-worker or, most zealous of all, a family
member who USED to be Catholic? How do you respond? Is it really true that we
Catholics violate a direct command from the Lord when we call our priests
“father”?
Well, it is a fact that in Matthew
23:9 Jesus said, “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in
heaven.” And it is a fact that non-Catholics have been citing this verse for
centuries to claim that Catholics blatantly violate Jesus’ command by calling
priests “father.”
But is this what Jesus really meant? To
fully understand Jesus’ “call no one…father” statement, we have to read
carefully the first half of this passage. Jesus’ main objective was to
highlight the attitude of pride and superiority held by the scribes and
Pharisees. The key statement here occurs in verses 5 and 6. Describing the
selfish motivation of the religious leaders of His day, Jesus said, “All their
works are performed to be seen….They love places of honor at banquets, seats of
honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation
‘Rabbi.’”
Jesus was telling His followers to be
humble. We know this by the last verse of the passage: “Whoever exalts himself
will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” He was
describing the Pharisees’ obsession with titles of honor—Rabbi, Teacher,
Father, Master—and warning His disciples to avoid that type of sinful pride and
arrogance.
Still, some people will insist, “But
Jesus said, ‘Call no one…father.’ And if He said it, then we gotta do it, and
since you Catholics DON’T do it, you’re not Christians!” This is taking a very
literalist approach to Scripture, which can cause a lot of confusion when Jesus
used symbolic language or exaggerations to make a point. For example, in
Matthew 5:29-30, Jesus said, “If you eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.…If
your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”
If it is true that we are supposed to
take each word Jesus said literally, and if it is true ALL people have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), then every church ought to be
filled with people facing a difficult dilemma: they are blind because they
gouged their eyes out, but they can’t hold their white canes very well because
they have no hands. I think you get my point.
Let’s take a closer look at this
so-called divine command that no one should ever use the word “father” to
describe another human being. In Acts 7:2, St. Stephen said, “Brothers and
fathers, listen to me!” Oops, was Stephen violating Jesus’ command?
In 1 John 2:13, St. John wrote, “I
write to you, fathers, because you have known him…” Oops, was John violating
Jesus’ command?
In his first letter to the Corinthians
(4:15), St. Paul wrote, “In Christ Jesus I became your father through the
Gospel.” Oops, was Paul violating Jesus’ command?
In Matthew 15:4, Jesus Himself said,
“Honor your father and mother.” Oops, was Jesus violating His own command?
From these verses in the Bible it is
clear that Jesus was not offering a sweeping command that no one shall ever use
the word “father” when referring to a man. Otherwise, all of these great saints
in Scripture (plus the Lord Himself) were in violation of that command.
It’s perfectly OK to call a Catholic
priest “father.” Just as St. Paul called himself the spiritual “father” of the
Corinthians, we Catholics call our priests “father” because they nurture the
spiritual life of the flock by preaching the Gospel and administering the
sacraments.
Oh, and one last thing, in case you’re not sure: Catholics
definitely ARE real Christians.
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