Ever hear of Maitland Jones, Jr? Professor Jones was a Professor of Chemistry at Princeton who left active teaching in 2007. Probably, as with many people in retirement, he then got bored, and decided to continue sharing his knowledge with “the next generation,” so to speak. So, he ended up as an Adjunct Professor at New York University teaching chemistry.
Retirement jobs are supposed to be relaxing and a way for some extra income. Not ever having met the man, I am sure of his complete and total surprise, if not sense of insult, when he learned from the University in 2022 that he was being fired.
The impetus? A petition to the University filed by the students in his classes that . . . he was “too hard.” In chemistry.
While the students did not formally seek Professor Jones’ removal, that is, sadly, what happened. But, then again, sad for whom?
This story is instructive, and told as part of a sermon Father Marc Boulos gave in 2022. This sermon is one of several that are the “diary” of preaching and teaching collected in his recently released Dark Sayings: Diary of An American Priest.
The “dark sayings” is a reference to Psalms 78, whose opening verses are:
A Maskil of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might
and the wonders that he has done.
These dark sayings (hidot) are like a riddle, and so they presumably need to be “figured out.” But, in the process of “figuring them out,” you end up realizing that the riddle is not so hard to understand; it’s hard to do, because it entails a change in the way we think. That change, like the demoniac’s liberation from the militarism of Rome as the “legions” are consigned to the pigs, can be painful. The villagers, all too comfortable with Rome’s power and symbols, asked Jesus to leave. Peace was not so comfortable for them (Luke 8. 26- 39).
In many ways, Father Marc’s book, which will enrage some, prick others, or be ignored — is a challenge. To what? To what we find comfortable. And what does Father Marc zero in upon?
The Temple. And what is the Temple? It is all those institutions with walls we find so sacred — like the University. How can a University, presumably devoted to learning and free expression, take the decision NYU took?
If you think it is just a “sign of the times,” then you are not paying attention. Professor Jones was not just fired; he was essentially exiled out of the walls of the academic city life. It is these city walls that are the legacy of Cain, who fathered a son Enoch, and then built a city and named it after his son (Genesis 4.17)!
So the heart of flesh became a heart of stone, and we have been living with that legacy ever since. This legacy shows its face in many different ways — for example, politically, in our foreign and domestic policies; socially, in academic oppression; in parish life in America, with misplaced priorities.
So the Bible is not just concerned with “religious matters.” It is concerned with all aspects of human behavior. Father Marc applies Psalms 78 by helping us be aware of how the mechanism works — as painful as that may be. Yes, he zeroes in on church life, because it’s as the church that we hear the Scriptures, and so it makes sense to look at patient zero. But this is where his teaching also hurts the most, since it is okay for us when we look at the foibles of a university, not so much when we see the same mechanism in the house of God.
Along the way, though, you hopefully end up then realizing as your ears open your eyes, that the the seed of the Gospel is the only liberator from the mechanism. Freed from the legacy of Cain, you become a member of the actual household of God under His “house rules.”
So, if you are ready to hear the riddle, and take a long, hard look at yourself, our institutions, and our parish life, you can begin here.
The Literary Liturgist 