What Father’s Day truly mean?
I woke up quite early today, thankful and reflecting on the fathers God has blessed our generation with. Many names came to mind and I started sending “Happy Father’s Day” messages as the names crossed my mind. Of course, I couldn’t fully exhaust the list. Many fathers have made tremendous impact and impression on my life that I couldn’t have written to all of them in that space of time. That would probably take the whole day or even more.
As I kept reflecting, suddenly, it occurred to me that I had not sent a message to the Father of all fathers. I mean God and Our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I can imagine the joy in heaven today. Perhaps the angels and Christ will throw a surprise party for Him. Well, that could not be a surprise party because He knows everything, so He would definitely know even before they plan anything. But I believe they will still do something.
Our Father
Until Christ came to the world to reveal to us who God really is, the world had had a misguided view of God. The world had misconstrued His personality about being a just God. At the time Christ came, the image that the world, particularly, the Jews had about God was that of a dictator. One that sits in the heavens and looks at the earth, searching for those who did good to bless and curse those who did evil. They knew God as one that opens the earth to swallow people who challenged the authority of His messengers [1], they saw God as one who destroys the earth with fire [2], and one who destroyed the earth with water [3]. Of course, these images are not pleasant. Therefore, the thought of God brought dread and extreme terror.
The great introduction
Then Jesus Christ came to the earth to introduce God to us as our Father. One who loves the earth so much He sent His only begotten son [4]. One who needs not to be feared, but rather loved and revered. Jesus’ introduction of God as our Father was imperative because He wanted us to have an idea of who God truly is. Of course, God is spirit [5], hence has no human attributes. Therefore, what Jesus was saying was that if you want an image of who God is, think of Him as a father, who provides care, love, security, discipline and what have you, to His children. Jesus, thus, used a father as a metaphor to show us who God is and what He does for us.
Patriarchal and misogynistic culture
Arguably, this is an image Satan is aware of concerning God. This may account for the reason why he has been fighting fathers since time memorial. Throughout history, fathers have been under tremendous attack so as to paint a negative image of God. In order to bring what Jesus said into proper perspective, we need to be cognisant of the cultural and historical settings of this statement.
At the time Jesus made this statement, the part of the world and the dispensation where He was born was patently patriarchal and misogynistic. Men, at the time, dominated every part of society. They had taken centre stage while women were in the periphery. Women were seen as weak, not being able to make take their own initiatives and not having an image or glory of their own, but rather through their husbands or the men around them.
Jesus Contextualise His teaching
Clearly, this was a myopic way of perceiving women, yet that was the culture Jesus came to meet. And if Jesus was to make any impression on them, He needed to contextualise His teachings to resonate with the people. It was Jesus’ teaching style that He would often speak in a language the people could relate with. When He met Simon Peter, a fisherman, He said to him “I will make you fishers of men” [6].
Throughout His teachings, Jesus used things that the people were familiar with; Mustard Seed (Matthew 17:20), Salt of the Earth (Matthew 5:13), New Wine in Old Wineskins (Matthew 9:17), The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), The Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-14), etc. Jesus, thus, spoke in a language they understood. Talking about faith, I believe if it was in our dispensation, Jesus would have said, “If you have faith like an atom” because, at the time, the mustard seed was the smallest known object.
Struggles of fathers
Jesus called God our Father because He mostly plays the role of fatherhood in our lives. That is not to say God doesn’t have feminine attributes; He certainly does, because He created both men and women in His image and likeness [7]. So the Gas of Ghana call God “Ataa-Naa Nyonmo”, literally, “the God who is both“.
Many people don’t honour fathers as they do mothers, particularly because of the role mothers generally play. And especially because many fathers are struggling as they are under demonic attack in order to undermine the image of God. However, we need to celebrate fathers, not because of what they do or do not do, but because God is the first Father, and fathers are to depict God on earth. It is not a matter of men being superior to women, but because Jesus called God, Father. It is about both genders partnering to reveal God on earth through fathers.
Mother’s role
Sadly, many men are not honoured by their families because some mothers made it so. These mothers misinform their kids about their fathers or better still tell them about the struggles of these fathers. Such children mostly develop hatred and bitterness for their fathers. It is the responsibility of the mothers to help their children see the good side of their fathers. That is not to say they should condone their weaknesses and somewhat indifferent attitudes. Clearly, some of our fathers need help to make a good representation of God on earth. This is mainly the role of the mothers. God, when creating the woman, said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” [8]. Honouring the father even when he clearly doesn’t deserve honour may cause him to change his attitude. Today being Father’s Day, don’t forget to honour a father figure in your life. Honouring him also means honouring God.
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References
[1] Numbers 16:20-35
[2] Genesis 19:24-26
[3] Genesis 6:9-9:17
[4] John 3:16
[5] John 4:24
[6] Mark 1:17
[7] Genesis 1:27
[8] Genesis 2:18
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