Unlearning our old ways before learning God’s new ways
09/24/2017
ISaiah 55:6-9 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him
while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his
thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in
forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,
says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways
above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Sometimes education is more about unlearning old things than
it is learning new things. Whether we’re studying biology or the Beatitudes, we
first have to unlearn bad ways of thinking before we can learn the best ways of
thinking. This lesson in unlearning is especially true when it comes to
unlearning racism.
I recently read a book called Where the Wind Leads about the
extraordinary story of Vinh Chung, a Vietnamese refugee. He fled Vietnam in
June, 1979, when he was only 3 ½ years old, and eventually arrived in Fort
Smith, AR. Vinh writes: “I was in second grade before anyone called me ‘gook,’
and I had no idea what the word meant. Another Vietnamese boy had to tell me,
‘That’s the worst thing anyone can call you!” and I had to make a mental note
that the next time I was called gook, I should get very angry.” He goes on:
“That’s the strange thing about discrimination: it has to be learned. In a
fistfight no one has to tell you if you’ve been punched or not, but you have to
learn when you’ve been insulted in a conversation – and I had plenty of
opportunities to learn” (Where the Wind Leads, 239-40). In other words, because
racism and discrimination is learned, so it can also be unlearned. Vinh Chung
went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard, and then attended Harvard
Medical School to earn an M.D. While Vinh’s classmates were learning racism, Vinh
was learning to be a doctor.
Our Scriptures today invite us to unlearn human ways of
thinking so that we can learn divine ways of thinking. Isaiah says: “As high as
the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways, and my
thoughts above your thoughts.” Human thinking tends to be earthy and
egotistical, and it needs to be unlearned so that we begin to think like God,
that is, to think less about ourselves and more about others. In the gospel
Jesus tells a parable where a landowner pays his workers not according to
accepted customs of fairness, but according to his generosity. Jesus creates a
clear contrast between worldly ways of evaluating and executing versus divine
decision-making. Just like Vinh’s classmates had to unlearn racism so the Bible
teaches us to unlearn the way the world, so that we learn God’s ways.
Let me suggest three lessons for our own unlearning today:
(1) unlearning how we deal with money, (2) unlearning how we understand sex,
and (3) unlearning how we wield power, the “unholy trinity” of money, sex and
power. First, money, and let me use tithing as an example, that is, giving to
the church. Sometimes we look at Mass like a business proposition, and we ask
what the R.O.I. – the “return on the investment” – is. If I don’t get something
out of Mass – hear some good music, get a riveting sermon, or at least not
listen to crying babies – why should I “pay” for that in the collection? But
that way of looking at the Mass as a business exchange – paying for goods or
services – needs to be unlearned. Once we unlearn the “business model of the
Mass” we can learn the real purpose of the Mass – we come here to give
something because the church is our spiritual family. I hope you don’t look at
your family as a business proposition: your children are the worst investment
you’ll ever make, especially if they’re still living in your basement! You give
money in the collection because you love this parish like your spiritual
family, not because you get something in exchange. Education in tithing first
requires unlearning old ways of the world before we can learn new ways of God.
Second, sex. Too often we compare human intimacy with animal
copulation. We even call that dreaded talk with our teens about sex “the birds
and the bees talk.” But we could not be more mistaken. Pope St. John Paul II
taught that the moment of marital intimacy makes us more like God rather than
the animals. He wrote: “Man becomes an image of God not so much in the moment
of solitude as in the moment of communion” (Man and Women He Created Them,
163). That is, every time you consummate your marriage you do something
God-like, not animal-like. C. S. Lewis said sex is not merely “four bare legs
in a bed,” but rather a moment of profound self-giving which mirrors the love
of the Holy Trinity. We have a lot to unlearn about sex, before we can learn
God’s plan for human intimacy.
Third, wielding power. We often think of power as political
power, or military power, or economic power. Remember what Genie said in the
movie “Aladdin”? He explained that the Golden Rule was “he who has the gold
makes the rule” - economic power. But that’s dead wrong. Why? Because real
power resides in the sacraments and in the Church. How so?
Shortly after Pope Benedict was elected in 2005, Cardinal George of
Chicago made this comment as he stood beside the newly elected pope on the
balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. He said: “I was gazing over toward the Circus
Maximus, toward the Palatine Hill were the Roman Emperors once resided and
reigned and looked down upon the persecution of the Christians, and I thought:
‘Where are their successors? Where is the successor of Caesar Augustus? Where
is the successor of Marcus Aurelius? But if you want to see the successor of
St. Peter, he is right next to me, smiling and waving at the crowds” (Robert
Barron, Catholicism, 35). Real power is priestly power contained in the
sacraments. Can you see my bulging muscles? We have to unlearn human ways of
thinking about power before we can learn divine ways of thinking about power.
My friends, do you have trouble with embracing all of the
Christian message? Do you still find yourself cringing hearing certain
teachings, or do you criticize Catholic traditions and tenets? Is it hard for
you to believe the Bible? Well, the
trouble may not be that you have so much more to learn; the real problem may be
that you have so much to unlearn, like Vinh Chung’s classmates had to.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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