SHAME UPON THE FATHER
A man was successful in business and had a well-educated son who was highly respected and honored, like his father. But one day to everyone’s surprise, the young man was charged with embezzlement. At his trial, he appeared nonchalant and arrogant about his sinful actions.
When the judge told him to stand up for sentencing, he still seemed unrepentant. Then hearing a slight scuffle on the other side of the room, he turned to see that his aged father had also risen. The once erect head and straight shoulders of that honest man were now bowed low with shame. He had stood to be identified with his boy and to receive the verdict as though it were being pronounced upon himself.
Suddenly his son realized the terrible grief he was inflicting on him, and tears welled up in his eyes. He had tarnished the family name by his behavior. Now his poor father was caught in the backwash of his son’s evil deeds, although he had done everything he could do to keep him on the straight and narrow path.
(From a sermon by Gerald Flury, How To Honor Our Father, 6/19/2010)