Today, by coincidence, is both Trinity Sunday and Father’s Day. That is a happy coincidence for preachers, who can preach about how God the Father models excellence in parenthood, rather than preaching about the doctrine of the Trinity, which (we’re told every year) is every pastor’s least favorite topic. (My own parish, on the other hand, got a lovely sermon from the Rev. Mike Fulk about the Trinity being a way to describe our experience of God as creator, sustainer, and redeemer, rather than a way to intellectually understand God.)

What we don’t hear so much about, even on Father’s Day, is any reflection on the Mosaic admonition to honor our mother and father. Which is both odd and a bit unfortunate, because the Fifth Commandment[1] is an intriguing one. It’s often said that the Ten Commandments fall into two groups: four “religious” ones and six “secular” ones. I’m not quite sure how a command straight from God qualifies as secular, but it does seem logical to see the first four commandments as pertaining to our relationship with God, and the rest as pertaining to our relationship with each other.

The last five commandments are often thought to be expressions of natural law: things that everyone, everywhere knows.[2]But the Fifth Commandment is not a real good fit. It’s the only positive commandment of the last six, and it doesn’t typically show up in lists of basic moral or legal principles the way the others do.

So, let me propose a slightly different way to look at it. Many have given the Fifth Commandment a slightly broader reading than just referring to actual parents, and encompassing elders in general, or those in authority, or perhaps tradition. With that in mind, could it be said that (i) following the last five commandments is the way in which we honor our elders (including our parents) and their wisdom, and (ii) in so doing, we honor God, as mandated by the first four commandments?

It works something like this. How do we show that we have only one God (the first commandment)? We don’t make anything of more importance than God, by not coveting what others may have (the tenth). How do we avoid idolatry (the second commandment)? By keeping our relationships in right order (the seventh). How do we respect the power of God’s name (the third)? By telling the truth (the ninth), and by treating God’s creation and our fellow creatures with compassion, not violence (the sixth). How do we honor the Sabbath? By acknowledging when enough is enough, and taking a day away from work, content with what we have, to worship and reflect, rather than keeping up with the Joneses (the tenth). These are all lessons our parents tried to teach us, and we we do well to recall them.

However, this is not a one-way duty that children owe their parents. We who are parents and grandparents owe it to our children and grandchildren not to steal from them by spending beyond our means or by ruining the environment, in the process making the world uninhabitable and the economy unsustainable for future generations. Those of us fortunate enough to live in the First World need to stop planting the seeds for generations of conflict in the future by being so greedy that those in the Two-thirds World don’t even have enough to live on. Both parents and children owe it to each other to (lovingly) tell each other the truth about their lives, since every generation has its own peculiar shortcomings. (My children’s generation, for instance, is much more accepting of differences between people than I will ever be, although I’m learning.)

Far be it from me to suggest that God and his amanuensis Moses could have used an editor. But it might have helped if the Decalogue, and not just the Fifth Commandment, had been written as positive commands rather than negative. Instead of “thou shalt not murder,” how about “be kind,” or “cherish life”? Instead of “don’t commit adultery,” perhaps “be faithful to your loved ones.” Or “respect everyone” rather than “thou shalt not steal.” “Tell the truth” rather than “do not bear false witness.” “Be satisfied” rather than “do not covet.” Now that would be honoring your father and mother.

[1] Fourth if you’re Catholic or Lutheran

[2] Well worth a look on this topic is Budziszewski, What We Can’t Not Know, especially Appendix I.