Tuesday, June 19, 2012
IT'S ALL DADDY'S FAULT
"Our Father, who art in heaven … one God and Father of all."
Some people blame Him for all the world's troubles. They got the wrong daddy.
There is another one. He is called the father of lies. But if you state the constant blame -- "the devil made me do it!" -- you still have the wrong daddy.
There is a third. We all have this one as our father. The Bible puts a lot of blame on him: "In Adam all die" ... "By one man sin came into the world …"
Jesus is another "daddy" in that the Scriptures describe Him as "Father" and "Author" of our salvation (Isaiah 9, Hebrews 12). He takes the blame, as though to receive into Himself the accusation: "It's all Daddy's fault!" Indeed, "God made Him to be sin for us."
But there is yet a fifth daddy. You know him, the head of the house: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself ..." That kind of love means pain, the pain of blame as well as the pain of responsibility, a good pain, the best kind there is, better than any alternative. A family -- with father, mother, children -- has many advantages over other lifestyles. There is usually more income. Children are better balanced. Overall health is better, and generally with more happiness and satisfaction.
"It's all daddy's fault!" Every Christian home hears that cry. One man recently wrote: "Without doubt, the most terrifying and fulfilling part of my life is being a father. The terror is that, somehow, I am failing my children in ways that will become clear only in retrospect. The joys defy words." The Christian husband and father experiences the joys and the terror. The terror due, for abdication and neglect of fatherly duty. The joy received, by love and forgiveness which comes from Word and Sacrament.
-- Abridged from the "Lutheran Spokesman," 1997
