Call No One Father?

Gospel Reflection For The 27th day of February in the year of Our Lord, 2024

Gospel

Matthew 23:1-12

1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, 2 Saying: The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. 3 All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. 5 And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad, and enlarge their fringes.

6 And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, 7 And salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi. 8 But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master; and all you are brethren. 9 And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters; for one is your master, Christ.

11 He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Of all the passages that Protestants like to quote in condemnation of Catholics is the fragment of today’s Gospel stating, “Call no one on earth your father..” It is very important that every Catholic know how to refute this argument so that none lose faith.

This is actually one of the silliest, but most common, arguments that Protestants make against Catholicism. They get quite worked up because we call a priest, father. They say, “Jesus said to call no man on earth father, therefore Catholicism is un-Biblical.” On a very surface level… if we give the matter no thought, that could be a convincing argument. However, given even a small amount of context and logic, it is ridiculous! There is something about the nature of Protestant sermons, Bible studies and devotionals that seems to always take Bible verses out of context. A minister will preach an entire sermon on one or two sentences rather than the overall message and meaning of the chapter from which those words were taken, much less does he compare it to similar passages to explain its meaning. When passages are taken out of context, their meaning is lost. The end result is a simplistic and often erroneous understanding, especially of more difficult books such as Revelation.

So, on the surface, Jesus said to call no one rabbi, father or teacher. Yet, consider the following Bible quotes:

Corinthians 4:14-17, 20

I am writing all this not to make you ashamed but simply to remind you, as my dear children; for even though you might have ten thousand slaves to look after you in Christ, you still have no more than one father, and it was I who fathered you in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel. That is why I urge you to take me as your pattern and why I have sent you Timothy, a dear and faithful son to me in the Lord, who will remind you of my principles of conduct in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

For the kingdom of God consists not in spoken words but in power.

1 Thessalonians 2:11

As you know, we treated every one of you as a father treats his children,

Hebrews 12:9-17

Besides, we have all had our human fathers who punished us, and we respected them for it; all the more readily ought we to submit to the Father of spirits, and so earn life. Our human fathers were training us for a short life and according to their own lights; but he does it all for our own good, so that we may share his own holiness. So steady all weary hands and trembling knees and make your crooked paths straight; then the injured limb will not be maimed, it will get better instead. Seek peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one can ever see the Lord. Be careful that no one is deprived of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a large number. And be careful that there is no immoral person, or anyone worldly minded like Esau, who sold his birthright for one single meal. As you know, when he wanted to obtain the blessing afterwards, he was rejected and, though he pleaded for it with tears, he could find no way of reversing the decision.

So, what are we to think? Did Saint Paul violate the commandment of Christ? What of the Ten Commandments, “Honor thy father and thy mother”? Does the Bible disagree with itself? If so, then the Bible cannot be the inspired Word of God, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit and cannot be trusted. Once again, we see that the Protestant belief in “Sola Scriptura” undermines Christianity itself, leaving no valid authority and nothing solid on which to believe. But, Jesus elevated us from the role of slave and made us “co-heirs”, His brothers and sisters. We can use the brains God gave us to reason. Only with reason and prayer can we understand the Bible… but even that is not enough. Remember the Ethiopian in Acts 6 that I referenced under Baptism:

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, 'Set out at noon and go along the road that leads from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.' So he set off on his journey. Now an Ethiopian had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem; he was a eunuch and an officer at the court of the kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia; he was her chief treasurer. He was now on his way home; and as he sat in his chariot he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and join that chariot.' When Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' He replied, 'How could I, unless I have someone to guide me?' So he urged Philip to get in and sit by his side. Now the passage of scripture he was reading was this: Like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb in front of its shearers, he never opens his mouth. In his humiliation fair judgement was denied him. Who will ever talk about his descendants, since his life on earth has been cut short? The eunuch addressed Philip and said, 'Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?' Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to explain the good news of Jesus to him.

What the Church has traditionally believed and yes, even taught, about this subject is very reasonable. No, Saint Paul did not violate the teaching of Christ. Nor, did Jesus violate His own words when he instructed His disciples to teach all nations, thus making them “teachers”! He also did not correct the people who called him “rabbi.” These words, teacher, rabbi and father are roles that are fulfilled by a person. If you teach, you are a teacher. If you send your child to school, they are taught by teachers. A Jewish religious teacher and officiant is a rabbi. One who contributes his DNA to the creation of a child is a father. The same is true in any language. You can call your earthly father, father, dad, daddy, poppa, pop, pere, padre, vater, etc., etc. Jesus would have been speaking Aramaic but His words were written in Greek by Saint Matthew. The language and spelling of the word is meaningless, it is the role of the father that makes one a father. Simply put, it is impossible to take the words, “call no man on earth father’ literally. Because, it is not the name that makes a man a father, but the act of fatherhood. You could call the man who fathered you by any term, but he would still be a father.

Traditionally the Catholic Church has taught the only thing that makes sense about this Bible passage: Jesus meant that we should not ascribe to humans the attributes exclusive to God. During the time of Christ, earthly kings were worshiped as gods. Men were assigned the attributes that belong to God, alone. This was the very reason that the Pharisees and other Jews of religious authority kept trying to trick Jesus into speaking against Caesar. The word of the Caesar was absolute and the highest authority (much like King Henry, VIII in declaring himself head of the Church of England based solely on his earthly authority as King of England). The Romans demanded the authority of Caesar was higher than any other, even God. To publicly contradict Caesar meant execution. Our Lord was simply making the point that no human had authority higher than God.

All fathers on earth who act as fathers (providing for, protecting, loving and teaching their children) receive their authority and due respect from our Father in heaven. The honor due them commanded in the Ten Commandments is a teaching of this very important relationship. When Saint Paul says that the Christians he taught and loved, to whom he provided the sacraments rightly called him father, it is because he acted as a spiritual father to them. Every priest acts just as Saint Paul did to his congregation. Every priest continues the mission given to the Apostles by Jesus to teach, forgive sins, heal and give the Eucharist. Every Catholic priest is rightly called father. The Pope is the spiritual father to all the bishops, priests and Catholic faithful, and is called by the most endearing form of the word meaning father in Italian – pope is a variant of the word, “poppa.”

Remember, 2 Timothy Chapter 3:16-17 tells us:

All scripture is inspired by God and useful for refuting error, for guiding people's lives and teaching them to be upright. This is how someone who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work.

Nowhere does the Bible ensure that all who read it will understand it. To understand the Bible, like the Ethiopian with Saint Phillip, we need someone to explain the more difficult passages. We need a spiritual father who is faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, the only institution on earth guaranteed by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior to be guided into all truth by the Holy Spirit and free from all error.

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Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January-June, 2024. It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q

and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic