Here we go and not waste any time with ...
silly little accents or ...
with comments about nothing in particular.
We're gonna get started. We're gonna get started NOW.
Hi my name is Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
Actually, let's talk about that. Let's talk about ...
I didn't say, "Hi and this is Mike Schmitz."
I said, "Hi, this is Father Mike Schmitz," and people are like, "Wait a—? What the—?
Listen, I don't know the whole Bible but I do know that Jesus said, 'Call no man father'
and yet here you are."
We call our priests "Father," right? That's very interesting.
We called the Pope the Holy Father. He, in Italy, is called Il Papa, right?
I think. I don't know.
I hope that doesn't mean potato because I think papa and papá
I'm not sure—one of the things means potato, the other means dad.
Are we going against Jesus' word because Jesus said, "Call no man on earth father?" Matthew 23.
First thing I want to say is if we're ever ever tempted to dismiss the words of Jesus,
we're going down the wrong road, right?
If we're ever tempted to say, "Well, I know the Bible says this but—" that is the wrong road to go down.
So we never ever ever ever ever EVER dismiss the words of Jesus.
Ever.
But we do need to understand the context as well as how did the people receive it?
How did they understand it? How did the early Church interpret what Jesus had said?
So, what's the context?
Jesus, in Matthew 23, is talking about those who want to lord it over others.
So that he says here's the rabbis. Man, they're trying to be in charge
and trying to basically draw attention to themselves, so don't be called rabbi.
Don't seek that kind of fame, don't seek that kind of influence, don't seek power.
So "father", that same kind of thing like, "Listen, that belongs to the father in heaven,"
and ultimately, I would say that natural fatherhood is a reflection of that
and spiritual father is a reflection of that— more on that in a second.
When it comes to, as I said, "teacher" that's what rabbi means, don't be called teacher,
now the context again is Jesus is warning against, warning the apostles against seeking that authority,
seeking that influence, seeking the power for its own sake,
not power to be able to serve. Because why?
Jesus, the Son of Man, did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
As I have been sent, so now I send you.
You have to do this. You have to serve. Take the lowest spot.
So don't seek the title of teacher, don't be seeking this lording over people by that fatherhood.
OK, so that was the context— about power.
How did the apostles interpret it? How did the early Church receive that?
Well, they recognized that Jesus was speaking in a hyperbole because Jesus does this.
Jesus, at times, speaks in hyperbole— it means exaggeration to make a point
When Jesus says, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away
or your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out, realize that Jesus was speaking in hyperbole.
We don't dismiss his words, we interpret them correctly and appropriately in their context.
He's talking about the awfulness of sin.
If there's something in your life that is causing you to sin,
get rid of it as drastically as if you are cutting off your hand.
But the Church had never interpreted that to mean, "Cut off your hand" or "Pluck out your eye"
or don't literally call someone "Dad" or don't literally call someone your teacher.
In fact, I mean think about even common sense.
If we were to stop using the word father,
if you stop calling your dad, dad or stop calling your father, father
then we call our father in heaven, what? I don't know. What does it mean?
Why do we call God the Father since none of us have any kind of context
in which the Father can be framed?
So it doesn't make any sense for Jesus to be taken literally in this case because he's speaking hyperbolically.
Same thing is true when it comes to rabbi or teacher.
If someone were to say, "No, I'm so fully by the Bible, I don't call anyone teacher,"
that also means you don't call your doctor, doctor because doctor means teacher, right?
So, we realize in other areas of life, that this is hyperbole.
The context is Jesus is talking about those who are lording it over others.
As long as I do not strive to lord it over others, I'm obeying the Lord's very words.
And how did the apostles receive it?
Well, we know that they even used the word "teachers."
In fact, was it 1 Corinthians 12 where St. Paul writes and he says, some of you are teachers—?
OK, wait a second.
Don't be called teachers.
Well, some of you are teachers.
You have, I think, Ephesians—I'm going to look—
I was right!
You also have Ephesians 4 when people are listed as teachers,
St. Paul himself in 1st Corinthians he says to them,
"I became a father to you."
St. Peter, in writing in 1st Peter, he says, "This is my son, Mark,"
and if you have a son, what are you, Peter? A father.
John, in 1 John at least and maybe I think his letters, all? All of his writings—
I should fact check myself. You can fact check me and correct me if I'm wrong.
John consistently says my beloved children. He calls the people he's writing to, "his children."
Why? Because he must see himself as some kind of spiritual father.
We always always take the Lord Jesus at his Word. We never dismiss anything he says
but we always want to understand it in the context
and then ask the question, how did those early Church, those apostles—
Peter and John who were there when Jesus said this—how did they receive this?
Well, they clearly received it as a hyperbole instructing them:
Do not seek to lord it over others with your authority, with your power, with your influence
but seek to use your authority, seek to use your power, and seek to use your influence to serve.
And that's one of the most amazing things.
Because if you've ever met a great dad, that's what they do, isn't it?
They have power, they have authority, they have influence
but they use it not to lord it over others. They use it to serve others.
If you've ever met a great priest, fatherhood is at the core of who they are.
Priesthood isn't just a function, not just a bunch of stuff you do
but it truly is an invitation by our Lord to become a spiritual father for our spiritual children.
And that's one of the things I just invite you.
If you're a man, the Lord has prepared you to be a dad somehow.
He's calling you to be a dad— some kind of father figure.
If he's called you to be a natural father, just embrace that
and realize, OK I'm meant to actually be an image of the Father to my children someday or right now.
If God's calling you be a priest, same thing.
It's like, OK, so God is calling me or he has made me into a spiritual father for his children.
I need to image his Fatherhood.
If you're not yet that—if maybe you don't have the opportunity physically to be a father
or situational circumstantially to be a father that's OK too
because the Lord is calling you to still be that kind of man who gives of himself
to the people around him like a good, good father would and that's so good.
That's why we call priests Father because recognize that it comes from Scripture
and the heart of the priesthood is fatherhood
as I said in another video that's on the internet somewhere.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name is Father Mike.
God bless.
Also, like, subscribe, and comment.
Comment, send your comments.
Nice ones.
Honest ones.
Ones that will really help.
Who knows?
Whatever. Comment.
(click)