Rashi states: “The reason the mitzvah of Shabbos is placed next to the mitzvah of fearing one’s father is to teach us that even though one is obligated to fear his father, if one’s father tells him to desecrate Shabbos, he should not listen to him. The same is true of all mitzvos.”
The Dubno Magid zt”l (Sefer Mishlei Yaakov) explains with a moshol:
There once were three friends who decided to travel to a far-away land to study new forms of wisdom. They agreed that each one of them would go to a different place to see what they could learn there, and after a year or two they would meet and share what they learned.
At their reunion, the first friend said, “I learned how to make binoculars that can see for miles into the distance.”
The second friend said, “I learned how to make a wagon that can travel long distances in a short amount of time.”
The third friend said, “I studied medicine and learned how to make remedies for all types of diseases.”
The first man took out a pair of his binoculars to show them how they worked. They were able to see all the way to the king’s palace, where they saw that the princess had fallen ill and no doctors were able to heal her. The second man immediately prepared a wagon to get their very quickly, and the third man provided her with the cure she needed.
Of course, the king was overjoyed. He asked the three men how he could repay them. He said, “All of my riches would not suffice to express my gratitude. Therefore, I am prepared to give my daughter as a bride to one of you. It is up to you to decide who should marry her.”
The three men began to argue with each other. The first one said that he should marry the princess because he was the one who saw the problem first. The second one argued that he was the one who got them to the palace so fast, while the third one said that he had made the medicine.
When the princess heard the argument, she said, “You all did your part to help me and I would not have been saved without each of your contributions. However, I will not need binoculars or fast wagons in the future, but it is very possible that I will get sick again and will need medicine. Therefore, the man who provided the cure is the one I will marry.”
The nimshol is as follows: Chazal say (Kiddushin 30B) that there are three partners in a person: Hashem, his father, and his mother. One may wonder who deserves the most honor. If one were to look to the past, they all seem equal, as the baby could not be created without the contributions of each partner. But if one were to look towards the future, it becomes obvious that Hashem deserves the most honor as the person no longer needs his parents to live, but he still needs Hashem to grant him every second of life. Therefore, Rashi says that one must honor Hashem more than his own parents.
