The Feast of All Saints (Observed using the propers for the Twenty-first Sunday After Pentecost) Call No Man Your Father Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen. Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “Call no man your father on earth.” Dear Christian friends: These Words of Jesus might surprise you, especially if there is a man in your life whom you call—or once called—your father. Is today’s Gospel meant to destroy home and family relationships? Should children now refer to their fathers by first name? Of course not! Jesus is the God who gave us fathers and who created our children! Why would our Lord suddenly want us to act as if there is no distinction between father and child? In order to understand today’s Gospel rightly, we must distinguish between a man’s person and his office. Many Bible verses speak about office: • Here is a verse you have heard before: Exodus 20:12—“Honor your father and your mother.” In this Fourth Commandment, our God establishes and upholds and commands the office of parent. We also know that our God does not change (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17). Therefore we can be certain that Jesus our God has no desire to overturn or destroy the office of father in today’s Gospel when He says, “Call no man father on earth.” • Every other office on earth likewise comes from God. For example, no civil authority would have any power over us, were it not given by God (John 19:11). So, too, the authority of the pastor: the office of the pastor is merely that—an office. When I speak in your midst, I speak from the authority of my office (John 20:22-23), NOT from any authority in my person. In my person, I have no authority. In my person, I have only sin and death and worthiness of God’s wrath. Why does Jesus say in today’s Gospel, “Call no man your father on earth”? He does NOT say this in order to destroy the offices that He Himself has established. Jesus says, “Call no man your father on earth,” so that we will each remember that the person who holds the office of father is really no different than anyone else. Whatever office we are talking about, that office is great and high and holy. By comparison, the person who fills the office is like every other person in every way: equally tempted, equally sinful, equally in need of the grace and mercy of our God in Christ. • Think of that man whose name appears on your birth certificate. In the Fourth Commandment, Jesus wants you to look at that man’s office and hold him in high honor on account of that office. In today’s Gospel, Jesus wants you to look at that man’s person instead of his office. Jesus wants you to regard that man as your brother, on account of his person. With regard to the person, Jesus says today, “You are all brothers… you have one Father, who is heaven.” • Think also of that man who has infested your pulpit for fourteen years. In many Bible verses, Jesus wants the office of pastor to be held in high regard by all—both the pastor and the people. But Jesus distinguishes person and office in today’s Gospel when He says, “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” If the Words, “the greatest,” refer to the office, then the Words “your servant” refer to the one who fills the office. With regard to my person—with regard to everyone’s person, no matter what their office—Jesus is clear: “You are not to be called rabbi… call no man your father on earth… neither be called instructor.” Why? “You are all brothers. You all together have only one instructor, the Christ. You all together have only one Father, who is in heaven.” It certainly sounds surprising when Jesus says, “Call no man your father on earth.” Jesus is good at getting peoples’ attention. But Jesus is really just speaking about the unity that is now yours and mine together in Baptism. Our Lord’s Words in today’s Gospel are no different than what His servant Paul has likewise said (Perhaps Paul is simply easier to hear): In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26-28). Why does Jesus want you to distinguish carefully between person and office? Asked another way, why does Jesus say that you should “call no man father” with regard to the person, even while you hold in honor the office that has been given? • The first reason is sin and death. No matter what their office, everyone carries sin and incurs guilt before God. No matter what their office, everyone dies. Jesus says “call no man father” in today’s Gospel so that none of us will fool ourselves into thinking that some people are holier than other people. Everyone stands in equal need of mercy and grace—including your father; including your pastor. Everyone fully shares with you an ongoing need for patience from God, and patience from you. When Jesus says, “call no man father,” He means for you to realize and remember that you father—indeed everyone in authority—puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like you do. • The Words, “call no man father” also require each of us to remember that there is flesh-and-blood hiding beneath the pastor’s robes. The problem with the Pharisees in today’s Gospel is that they made themselves out to be something special, separate and higher than all others. They believed their persons to be superior, and they earned God’s wrath because of it. The Words, “call no man father,” keep my person in place—in the place of servant and slave. The office is holy and honorable; the person is bound and gagged and under the same curse of sin as all other people. • Best of all, the Words, “call no man father” and “you are all brothers,” offer each person the full assurance and complete joy of God’s grace, no matter who you are. These Words, “call no man father,” indicate that no one gets a greater share of Jesus’ blood and forgiveness than you get. The Words, “you are all brothers,” indicate that, even if you do not yet hold any office in your life, you are nevertheless fully incorporated into the family of God. Your place in God’s salvation is no lower and no higher than any other. Yours is the complete measure of God the Father’s mercy, shown to you in His crucified and resurrected Son. Yours is the full, unabated flow of Jesus’ blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Yours is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in His entirety, feathers and all! (Matthew 3:16) So Jesus is NOT overturning and toppling all of the Scriptures when He says in today’s Gospel, “Call no man your father on earth.” He simply wants you to distinguish the office and the person. • Your earthly father deserves high honor, respect and love. He deserves this, no matter how he has acted toward you. Your Father deserves honor and respect because of his office. In his person, he deserves nothing—but he needs mercy, both from God and from you. • There is a sense that governmental authority could also be called father. All governmental authority flows from the Fourth Commandment and all of it is given by God (John 19:11). Nevertheless, those who hold office in the government are still flesh and blood and they will each be held to account before God (Matthew 25:31-46), in the same way that you and I shall likewise be held to account. • Throughout history, some Christians—even some Lutherans—have preferred the title “father” when it comes to speaking about their pastor. The Scriptures certainly accommodate and allow for such speaking (1 Corinthians 4:14-15, 1 Timothy 1:2), if that is what the people desire. Today’s Gospel simply does not allow the pastor to claim any more Spirit or any more holiness than the Spirit and the holiness given to the youngest baptized child. “You are all brothers” says the Lord, “You have one Father, who is heaven.” • Today we mark and celebrate All Saints Day. In many places, the Scriptures refer to those who have gone before us into eternity as our fathers (e.g., Genesis 46:34, 1 Chronicles 29:18-20). But the saints of heaven are not our fathers because they are greater than us or less sinful than us. We simply are free to call them “fathers” or “forefathers” because they were before us. They are our brothers because Jesus bled and died for them, in the same way He bled and died for us. One day we shall join them. Then we shall see the full bolt of eternal fabric, seamless and complete. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
