Brothers in Christ: You Are Not My Father!

This Sunday's Gospel reading is from Matthew 23:1-12. In it, Jesus advises his disciples to avoid honorifics and to stay humble servants to one another.

"Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practise what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students (brothers/brethren). And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Growing up in a "low church" Episcopal parish, the priest was always referred to as "Mr. so and so" and never "Father so and so" as that was an honorific typically used in reference to a Roman Catholic priest.

Somewhere along the line, I think it was in the early seventies, it became more common for Episcopal priests to accept being called "Father".

Oh yeah, that was about the time that the Episcopal seminarians stopped believing the Bible. Women's ordination was around the corner and, inconsistently, nobody wanted to call female priests "Mother".

Matthew Henry (1662 – 1714) explains it in his Commentaries,

"They are forbidden to ascribe such titles to others (Matt. 23:9); 'Call no man your father upon the earth; constitute no man the father of your religion, that is, the founder, author, director, and governor, of it.' The fathers of our flesh must be called fathers, and as such we must give them reverence; but God only must be allowed as the Father of our spirits, Heb. 12:9. Our religion must not be derived from, or made to depend upon, any man. We are born again to the spiritual and divine life, not of corruptible seed, but by the word of God; not of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God. Now the will of man, not being the rise of our religion, must not be the rule of it. We must not jurare in verba magistri—swear to the dictates of any creature, not the wisest or best, nor pin our faith on any man’s sleeve, because we know not whither he will carry it. St. Paul calls himself a Father to those whose conversion he had been an instrument of (1 Cor. 4:15; Phlm. 1:10); but he pretends to no dominion over them, and uses that title to denote, not authority, but affection: therefore he calls them not his obliged, but his beloved, sons, 1 Cor. 4:14."

"The reason given is, One is your Father, who is in heaven. God is our Father, and is All in all in our religion. He is the Fountain of it, and its Founder; the Life of it, and its Lord; from whom alone, as the Original, our spiritual life is derived, and on whom it depends. He is the Father of all lights (Jas. 1:17), that one Father, from whom are all things, and we in him, Eph. 4:6. Christ having taught us to say, Our Father, who art in heaven; let us call no man Father upon earth; no man, because man is a worm, and the son of man is a worm, hewn out of the same rock with us; especially not upon earth, for man upon earth is a sinful worm; there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not, and therefore no one is fit to be called Father."

I am sure this will upset the Anglo-Catholics passing by, but from now on, I will call you "Brother".