Honoring Our Parents

Exodus 20:12; Luke 2:48-51; Mark 7:6-13; John 19:25-27

GOLDEN TEXT: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right.”—Ephesians 6:1

THE Golden Text of today’s lesson is very much to the point with reference to Christian parents and their relationship to their children. By it children are admonished to obey their parents “in the Lord.” “This is right,” says the apostle. It is right because Christian parents—parents who are “in the Lord,” should bring up their children in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”—Ephesians 6:4

The apostle writes that the “last days” would be characterized by the disobedience of children to their parents. (II Timothy 3:1,2) We are not to suppose that this—which is so plainly evident today—is wholly the fault of the children. Indeed, it is probably largely due to a failure on the part of parents to properly teach and discipline their children in order that they might know the advantages of obedience.

The lesson, of course, is designed for the instruction of those who profess to be the people of God. Children of the Jewish nation were commanded to honor their parents because the parents, supposedly honored God. They were to obey their parents because their parents had entered into a covenant to obey God. In obeying God, the parents would train their children to likewise honor and obey Him, and this would be in the very best interests of the children.

The same principle applies in the case of Christian parents and their children. It is right that children honor their Christian parents, and the parents have a great responsibility in training their children along lines pleasing to the Lord. This is a responsibility that should not be shirked, nor can it properly be passed on to others. It is not enough that parents send their children to Sunday School, thus entrusting their religious training to others. Christian parents should not only be careful of what they believe and practice themselves, but equally careful of what is taught to their children. If this responsibility is side-stepped by parents, they should not blame their children for worldliness later in life.

Our lesson cites the attitude of the boy Jesus toward His parents. (Luke 2:48-51) Jesus, even as a boy, seemed to realize that He was on earth to carry out a special mission for His Heavenly Father. At the first opportunity He sought the Doctors of the Law in the Temple, to inquire of them concerning the proper procedure of those who serve the Lord. At the age of twelve He was too young to enter upon His priestly ministry, so He gladly went back to Nazareth and was subject to His parents until He was thirty—the legal age, under the Lave, when He could enter upon His God-given mission.

Jesus became subject to His parents, for this was right. It was right because they were God’s covenant people, and, as a child, He was under command to honor and obey them. Mary, His mother, was a God-fearing woman who rejoiced in the great honor that had come to her in connection with Jesus. We may be sure that the training of her boy was in keeping with God’s Law. While, at the age of thirty years Jesus became, through the terms of His consecration, directly responsible to His Heavenly Father, yet He never failed to properly honor His mother and to discharge His responsibility towards her. Even when suffering upon the cross He manifested a solicitude for her welfare.—John 19:25-27

The scribes and Pharisees, by their traditions, nullified God’s Law as it applied to youth, even as they had set aside in a similar way God’s other commandments. (Mark 7:6-13) Their traditions sanctioned the neglect of their responsibilities concerning their parents and parents to children, so long as they made offerings and gifts to the Lord, they were free from further obligation.

The lesson in this for Christian parents is that they should be firm, though kind, in their insistence that their children obey. A child who gets the idea that he can buy his parents off whenever he wishes is developing a viewpoint that will be injurious to him throughout his whole life, and a handicap in the age to come.

As we have seen in our previous lessons pertaining to divine law, the principle of obedience is fundamental to true peace and happiness. No intelligent creature, either in heaven or in earth, can do as he pleases and be entirely happy. The well-being of all things created—animate and inanimate—depends upon obedience to the laws of the Creator. The obedience of children to parents is but one example.

Parents, in turn, must be obedient to law, not of their own making, but of God’s making. To Jewish children the promise was made that obedience would result in their living long in the land. That will be true of all who obey God’s Law during the coming age of Christ’s Kingdom. They will live in the land very long—for all eternity, in fact, if they remain obedient.

Children who obey Christian parents will be blessed with morally upright characters, and will have faith and reverence for God. This will stand them in good stead now, and will be a real asset by and by when the Kingdom is fully established. If, upon reaching the age of individual responsibility before the Lord they become interested in the prize of the High Calling (Hebrews 3:1; Philippians 3:14) and decide to make a full consecration to the Lord and to run for that prize, then they have the same privilege accorded every Christian, and they will find their early training a great help to them.

QUESTIONS:

Why is it right that children should obey God-fearing parents?

How did the traditions of the Pharisees abridge the Law of God with respect to the obedience of children to parents?

When can children of Christian parents expect to live long in the land if they are obedient?

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