Your Father and your Mother (p. 2)

"you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days."

Deuteronomy 22:7

To honor one’s parents is to honor God. In fact, the root of the Hebrew term “honor” is composed of the three consonants KBD, which also appear in the term KABED, meaning the glory of the Lord. Theologically, this opens up a perspective: the honor we give to our parents is a way of glorifying God. Ultimately, the Law teaches us that it is in our neighbor that we can see God, and our first neighbor is our parents. Honor must go to them, for it is in them that we can see the glory of God. This reasoning makes sense when applied to a faith community, where parents pass on teachings to their children and the children honor them by virtue of the faith they have received. Such reasoning cannot be extended to those who know nothing of Christianity or biblical culture. Nor can it be applied to parents who abandon or abuse their children, or to children who abandon their parents in a state of destitution. A professor of Judaism, in relation to the commandment in question, argues that we are so intrigued by the promise “may your days be long upon the land that the Lord your God gives you” that it gives us hope that honoring our parents will grant us a long life.

In Deuteronomy, the same promise linked to the commandment appears, but it is contained within a single passage: “If, as you walk along, you happen to find a bird’s nest in a tree or on the ground, with young birds or eggs and the mother bird brooding over the young or the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; but you shall let the mother go and take the young for yourself, so that you may prosper and prolong your days” (Deuteronomy 22:6–7). Honoring one’s parents is like letting the mother of the young birds go. The explanation lies in the defense of the mother of the young birds, as a defense of the source of life. The mother represents the one who has given life and is called to do so again. There is a kind of sacred respect for those who give life, understood also in the spiritual or professional sense. Just think of the teacher with the disciples; the spiritual father with the believers; the natural parents with their natural children. All those who are called to give life must feel honored. Even though the text mentions the father first, there are no hierarchies among parents: the mother must be respected just as the father is. The Prophets likened the Lord to feminine figures or attitudes: the hen brooding over her chicks (Isaiah 31:5; Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34); the mother who holds her little one to her cheek (Hosea 11:4); the comfort of a mother (Isaiah 66:13).

Human beings, male or female, were made in the image and likeness of God. It follows that the Lord has no gender, and therefore both motherhood and fatherhood have equal importance in procreation. In Jewish culture, the father and mother deserved the same honor which, as already emphasized, from a spiritual perspective, brings glory to God. A further consideration, regarding the material aspect of the commandment, can be directed toward those who are required to honor their parents. In a society, such as the Jewish one, where the elderly were left to fend for themselves, this obligation was intended to protect them. The care and protection to which children are called must not become, for them, means that enslave them to their parents. The content of the Law consists of provisions of freedom: everything God commands is for our freedom. Consequently, children must be able to preserve their autonomy and privacy, which honored parents should not violate. This would create a relationship in which there is, on the part of the one who is bound to honor, the act of honoring, and, on the part of the one who is honored, the holding in the highest esteem of the needs of the one called to honor them. Respect, therefore, is also due to those who are called today to care for their parents, since they are, at the same time, called to build a family and to give new generations to humanity.

(Continued next week)

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Weekly Bible Reading Plan #17

April 20, 2 Samuel 9–11; Luke 15:11–32

April 21, 2 Samuel 12–13; Luke 16

April 22, 2 Samuel 14–15; Luke 17:1–19

April 23, 2 Samuel 16–18; Luke 17:20–37

April 24, 2 Samuel 19–20; Luke 18:1–23

April 25, 2 Samuel 21–22; Luke 18:24–43

April 26, 2 Samuel 23–24; Luke 19:1–27