當父親辛苦嗎？

作者：Clement Yeung    翻譯：以恩

"當父親辛苦嗎？"

在我兒子傑七歲時，有一晚和他做了睡前禱告，我正要離開他的房間時，聽到他如此問我。雖然那時己經很疲憊，巴不得立刻倒在床上，但我的心告訴我，那不是一個普通的問題。

"嗯，可以說是，也可以說不是。" 我覺得自己可能學到了一點政客似的回答。

當我再次走向他時，他用小手抱住我，說："告訴我那是什麼意思。" 他繼續說："那是不是讓你工作得很辛苦的原因？"

"不是這樣的，我工作辛苦是因為我從事的行業必須如此。我得照顧許多生病的人，還有許多意料之外的電話，還有一些不在計劃中的，卻不得不去醫院看病人。這些事不是因為我是一個父親而發生的。" 我很努力地搜索答案。

"那你覺得做一個父親最困難的是什麼？" 傑的睡意似乎全消了。

"當你或姐姐生病時，我會覺得很難過，尤其是我得在醫院趕來趕去，卻沒有辦法抽空來照顧你們時"。

"那你覺得做一個父親最開心的是什麼？"

"哇，有人在採訪我嗎？" 我開玩笑地說，" 那當然了，我最喜歡你跑過來給我一個熊抱！"

隔天，我在報紙上看到有個女人到法院告她的男朋友不提供孩子的生活費。那個大標題寫著女人對男人的控訴："他是一個父親，但不是一個爸爸！"

"當父親辛苦嗎？" 我繼續思考這個問題。

很有趣，主耶穌稱呼天父為父親和阿爸，後者表示了祂們之間的親密。祂不只是形容天父像一般的父親，祂講到天父時是一種親密的家庭關係。當耶穌稱呼神為父親時，那是一種史無前例，並且在舊約和祂的文化中找不到平行的實質關係。耶穌稱呼天父為阿爸，對猶太人而言，這種對神如此親密的稱呼是一種無法接受的醜聞。這就是為何早期的教會領袖或傳福音者向外邦的世界傳福音時，每一次講到有關父親的形像，他們就得停下來解釋在舊約社會裡的父權制度裡的父親之意。

在耶穌的時代，沒有人敢說神的名字，神太高高在上，太神聖了，因此沒人敢直呼祂的名字。

所以想像一下，當耶穌走入這個父權制度的教會，說："神不只是我的父親，祂是我的阿爸，父！" 這個宣告最後使祂喪失了性命，但也因為祂的死和接踵而來的復活，使我們也可以稱神為我們的父親和阿爸！對神這個阿爸而言，看到耶穌被釘在十字架上，祂的心一定非常痛苦。

"當父親辛苦嗎？"

我還是無法給兒子一個完美的答案，但是他的問題讓我能夠更懂得感謝天上的阿爸。

Is It Hard To Be A Dad ?

Clement Yeung

"Is it hard to be a dad ? "

My seven-year old son asked me one night after bedtime prayer as I was leaving his room. Though my body was tired and eager to get some rest, my mind told me this was no ordinary question.

"Ah.....yes and no." I must have learned that answer from a politician.

As I walked back to his bed, he put his arm around me and said, "Tell me what you mean."

"Is that why you have to work so hard?" He continued.

"Well, not really, I worked hard because of the kind of work I do. I have to take care of sick people and that often involves a lot of unexpected phone calls and even unplanned trips to the hospital. That would happen whether I am a dad or not." I was trying hard to gather my thoughts.

"Then what is the hardest thing for being a dad?" Je was getting more awake.

"I feel terrible whenever your sister or you get sick, especially when I have to rush back and forth from the hospital and not having the time to care for the two of you."

"What do you like most being a dad?"

"Am I being interviewed?" I said jokingly. "Of course, I like you coming over and giving me a bear hug."

The following day, the newspaper reported a mother taking her boyfriend to court for not providing child support. The caption quoted the mother's complaint: "A father , yes, but a dad, he is not!"

"Is it hard to be a dad?" I keep thinking.

It is interesting to note that Jesus called God both as the Father and Abba. The later implies intimacy. He did not just describe God as a father in some generic, paternal sense. Jesus spoke of God in intimate, family terms. Indeed, Jesus' use of the word "father" for God was unprecedented and virtually without parallel in both the Old Testament and in His culture. Jesus' calling God by the intimate term Abba, was, in fact, a scandal to Jewish notions of transcendence. That is why the early church leaders and evangelists who took the message of the gospel to the pagan world, every time they came to the idea of father, they had to stop and explain what that meant to a patriarchal society during the Old Testament days.

By the time of Jesus, no Jew would speak the name of God. God was too high. He was too holy even to be called by His name.

Imagine Jesus walked into this patriarchal culture and said, "God is not only our Father. He is Abba, my Dad!"

It was such proclamation that eventually cost His life. It was His death and subsequent resurrection that have enabled us to call God our Father bad Abba.

It must have been very hard for God the Abba to see Jesus hanging on the cross.

"Is it hard to be a dad?"

I still do not have a complete answer for my son but his question helped me to appreciate my heavenly Abba even more.