You cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing?
This Sunday is Father’s Day. This year, the Gospel for this Sunday is particularly appropriate. We already celebrated mothers last month, so please do not accuse me of insensitivity if I concentrate on fathers this month. Committed fathers are prone to have the type of issues that prompted the verses above. If one is a committed father, then one worries about how to provide for one’s family. From where will the money come to support the family? How can the children have the clothing and other supplies that they need?
In this culture, all too many fathers feel inadequate, even if they are being good providers. We live in a culture that promotes the idea that if one does not have everything while the children are still young, then one is not a good provider. Mothers feel a different burden in that if they do work, then they are all too often made to feel inadequate because they did not stay at home. But, this is about fathers today, not about mothers. And, every culture promotes the idea that fathers who do not fully provide are not adequate parents. (This is true even in the most egalitarian of the European cultures.)
It is difficult for a father to find a sense of peace that allows that father to rely on the good will of the Heavenly Father to provide for all that is needed. It is even worse if the father has a child who has suffered from a tragic disease or a tragic accident. This is a good Sunday to remember that there are many fathers who are having to confront high medical bills, tragedy, poverty, and/or unimaginable suffering.
You see, I am not talking simply about USA fathers. There are Christian parents in various Middle Eastern and African countries that have seen incredible tragedy, and yet are called on to carry on. But, yes, there are many fathers in the USA who have made all the right moves, and yet, circumstances beyond their control have left their families without adequate support. (Think of the young fathers in areas in which a factory or a store shuts down, such as the recent shut downs of stores in the Sears network.)
So, rather than simply using this Sunday to make saccharine statements about fathers, let’s take some time to really pray for fathers. We try our best. We often feel inadequate. Yes, we are all too often patriarchal. But, the majority of us are committed to our families. Remember, even divorce is still a minority option. Most fathers do hang on and try to do the right thing.
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