Proper 7

A man was out on the golf course. He spotted another golfer who had three caddies. “Why so many caddies?” the first man asked the second.

The second golfer replied, “Well, it’s my wife’s idea. She thinks I should spend more time with the kids.”

 Another dad said, “I have an 18-year-old; her name is Alexis. I chose that name because if I hadn’t had her, I’d be driving one.” 

            Yes, today we salute fathers. And the role of a Christian father is more important in today’s world than ever before. It’s a different role than in earlier generations. In most households today, Dad is called upon to play more of a nurturing role in caring for children. If Mom works outside the home, Dad must take a more active role in doing household chores. Dad is no longer “lord of the castle.”

Today’s father needs to be nurturing of his children, supportive of his wife, and yet at the same time provide the spiritual leadership of the home that the Bible accords to fathers. It’s a rare man, a special kind of man, who can combine all three of these qualities. We salute Christian fathers this day. Your family needs you more than ever before.

The most common image that Jesus used in describing God was that of “Father.” It makes me think that Joseph must have been a very special kind of dad. We center much of our attention on Jesus’ mother, Mary, but Joseph must have also combined those very special qualities of strength and gentleness that we associate with Jesus. Jesus had a very keen knowledge of the Scriptures. In the Jewish home, it was the father who had the primary responsibility for his son’s religious instruction. So Joseph, though barely mentioned in the Gospel narrative, was probably an influential role model for Jesus. Why else would Jesus have chosen the imagery of “Father” to portray God?

In Matthew 10, we have one of the most important Scriptural reminders of the love of our Heavenly Father for His children. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?” Jesus asks, “And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” What a moving testimony to the very intimate love that God has for each of us.

But wait. There’s a troubling side to this truth. Sparrows do fall from the skies. It happens all the time. Jets suck them up in their engines. Predators prey upon their young. Sudden storms or droughts can deprive them of their food. The Father’s love does not protect them from life’s tragedies. Neither does it protect us. Sparrows, innocent sparrows, do fall. Just like those little children murdered in Uvalde, Texas, last month.

The father’s love does not protect us from life’s problems. Those of you who are parents, would you protect your young from all life’s problems if you could? It would be tempting. Deep in our hearts we would like to build a protective bubble around our children. After all, when they hurt, we hurt. When someone abuses them, it is we who are angry. When they are confronting a crisis, it is we who toss and turn in our beds with sleeplessness.

We would like to protect our young from any and every hurt. But what would happen if we did? They would never grow into responsible, competent, mature adults. Overcoming obstacles produces character and competence. God has placed us in a world that is designed to bring out the best within us if we deal with life in an attitude of faith and love. That does not mean that he has forsaken us or forgotten us. It simply means that this world is a training school designed to produce souls fit to share eternity with Him.

The Father’s love does not protect us from life’s problems, but neither are life’s problems God’s punishment upon us for our sins. Remember poor Job? It was bad enough that Job was covered with sores. To add insult to injury, however, his friends accused him of deserving his wretched condition.

Jesus’ disciples once saw a blind man begging. “Who sinned,” they asked Jesus, “that he should be in this condition?” How often people blame themselves, and ultimately blame God, when life deals them a difficult blow. “God must be using my child’s sickness to punish me for some sin,” we hear someone say. What a petty God they must have to injure a helpless child in order to punish them. No, a thousand times no! Grief is tragic enough without adding to it the crushing burden of guilt.

Here is where our theology of the cross becomes critical. You and I live under the rule of Grace. That is, we believe that something happened on the cross of Calvary that has forever changed the relationship between God and man. Now, to be sure, as free moral agents living in a lawful world we have to live with the consequences of our misdoings. If I abuse my body, sooner or later it will catch up with me. If I shoplift something, I may be arrested. In terms of my relationship with God, however, those sins are buried at the bottom of the deepest sea never to surface again. They are gone forever.

If you believe that Christ has atoned for your sins, you cannot believe that God is using some adverse circumstance to punish you. The two are mutually exclusive.

There’s a story about actor Henry Fonda that can help us here. Fonda’s father disagreed with his son’s decision to become an actor. Only grudgingly did he attend his son’s debut performance with the rest of the family. After the performance, Fonda’s mother and sisters glowed with pride and were effusive in their praise. His father, however, said nothing until one of his sisters made a tiny criticism of Henry’s performance. “Be quiet,” said the elder Fonda, “He was perfect!”

Now, of course, Fonda was not perfect. But his father saw him that way. You and I are not perfect either. But that is the way the Father sees us. That is what it means to live under grace. The Father’s love does not protect us from the problems. Neither are our problems God’s punishment for our sins.

Sparrows do fall from the sky. That is not because they have been good sparrows or bad – as if sparrows can be good or bad. They fall because they are part of a lawful universe in which unfortunate tragedies do occur. But listen, here is the good news. The little sparrow never falls beyond the watchful eye of the father. The child of God who knows that he or she is under the watchful eye of the Father can, by His grace, bear any burden, triumph over any tragedy, get on top of any circumstance because he knows that he is not alone.

The apostle Paul had a litany of misfortunes. Yet he heard the Lord’s voice saying, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

For many of us, the injustice of this world, combined with the love of the Father, is the best assurance we have of a world beyond this one. Someday, somehow, somewhere accounts must be settled. In Marjorie Rawling’s beautiful novel, The Yearling, set in rural northern Florida, there is a scene in which friends and family gather around the grave of a little handicapped boy named Fodderwing.

One of the men of the community offered up this simple prayer: “Almighty God, it ain’t right for us to say what is right. But if we had been making this boy, we would never have made him with his back bent and his legs crooked. We would have made him straight and tall like his brothers. But somehow you made it up to him. You gave him a way with critters. It comforts us to know that he is in a place where his being bent doesn’t matter no more. We would like to think that you have taken that bent back and those crooked legs and straightened them. And Almighty God, if it ain’t asking too much, we pray that you will give him some critters to play with, maybe a few redbirds and a squirrel or two. Thy will be done. Amen.”

I don’t know what heaven will be like. But I know what God is like. He is like a Father who notices a little sparrow fall from the sky and cares for us much, much more than he cares for sparrows. That means even though we still must face obstacles and crises, we do not face them alone. And someday, somehow, all that which is hurtful will be turned into that which is helpful, and we shall live with joy in the Father’s house forever.