Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today's readings: Jeremiah 31:15-17, Revelation 14:1-5, and Matthew 2:13-18 (sermon text).

Joseph protected his family in this reading. He is a prototype for all fathers, something spoken about infrequently in Scripture. How should one be a good father or husband? The Bible - unsurprisingly - is NOT about how to be a good person/father/mother/etc. So it doesn't talk much about it. It's about Christ.

We can glean five points from Scripture about parenting:

1. God is our true Father. Therefore, He is the model for all fathers.
2. God created an order for things. The first ranks of this order: Father > Son > husband > wife > children. Rejoice about this. Don't gripe.
3. This husbandly leadership should be done with love, respect, and honor (Colossians 3:19), not harshness.
4. Household leadership should be through teaching (one of the chief commands of Moses) - husbands teaching their wives and children what is right.
5. Husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:23).

We're all aliens in this world. Each human has a God complex, leading to a solitary, lonely, unfulfilled world. It's out of God's order. So go back to point 2. Adhere to it; accept that God is your Father. He loves you, is infinitely patient, and is the best Father. Therefore He enables human fathers to imitate Him too.