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Good Shepherd Community of Faith |
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An American Baptist and United Church of Christ Welcoming and Affirming Congregation |
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Education Without Character |
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7 Deadly Social Sins: Education Without Character Psalm 14; Sirach 21:19-21; Matthew 23:1-5a; 1 Corinthians 8:1-3
Let’s start with a quick review. The 7 Deadly Social Sins begin with Politics without Principle. I want to mention that it seems like every week we hear of some new scandal in Washington. Politics without Principle is alive and well. Wealth without Work was next. I often think of the woman who sued McDonald’s after she spilled coffee in her lap. I always thought coffee was meant to be hot. Commerce without Morality is the third deadly social sin. I have one word for this one: Halliburton. Previously, I talked about Pleasure without Conscience. Did you see the latest report about drinking on campus? The problem is getting worse instead of better. College students are partying like they never have before, and, according to the report I saw, mixing alcohol with pills, so Pleasure without Conscience is also alive and well. The next deadly social sin is Education without Character. Now, I place very high value on education. I see education as a life-long pursuit. I am quick to commend anyone who is striving to increase his or her knowledge. And, of course, education can be accomplished in many ways—not just going back to school as I have. Keeping up on what is happening in the world, reading, listening, communicating—these are all ways to increase our knowledge. I always remember my mother complaining about a woman my oldest brother married later in life. Mom would say, “She irritates me so. She never reads a paper or listens to the news. She doesn’t care about anything outside of her own little world. How can anyone live life without trying to learn?” Now my mother only finished 9th grade, but she knew a lot. She was always reading and learning. I guess that’s one reason education is so important to me. She set a very good example. Education is wonderful! But education without character can also be problematic, and that’s why I included so many scriptural passages in this message. They are all excellent references to what happens when one is educated but has no moral fiber. The Psalmist, for instance, says,” The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God . . . Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord?” The people to whom the psalmist spoke could easily have been educated because they were probably the leaders of Israel, the elite. But they had no “sense” in that they were “corrupt” and did “abominable deeds.” Thus, turning to Sirach, which we Protestants don’t generally read, we find, “to a senseless person education is fetters on his feet,” while “to the sensible person education is like a golden ornament.” In other words, education can be the crowning glory of a person if he or she is sensible and uses that education for good and not for evil. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.” So, knowledge or education without love—love of God and love of other—is worth very little. And, that brings us to the Gospel reading. Matthew 23 is Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees. Now, these were educated people, probably some of the most educated people of the time. The scribe is an ancient professional whose job involved learned reading and writing. This work usually involved secretarial and administrative duties such as taking of dictation and keeping of business, judicial and historical records for kings, nobility, temples and cities. Then the Pharisees, according to Obery Hendricks’ book The Politics of Jesus, were mostly nonpriestly “retainers” who served the priestly class. They were “a devout group of men whose main concern, in addition to scrupulously obeying scriptural laws and the nonscriptural ‘traditions of the fathers,’ was observing ritual purity, especially with regard to foods, tithing, and keeping the Sabbath.” Again, these men were highly educated. But Jesus called these scribes and Pharisees vipers and hypocrites. He said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others.” In Luke’s version of Jesus’ “woes to the scribes and Pharisees,” is included a “woe to lawyers,” another group of highly educated people who were not using their knowledge for the betterment of society: “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge.” Thus, referring again to Sirach, education for these “senseless” people was more like fetters on their feet and manacles on their hands than golden ornaments or bracelets. They had knowledge but did not have love. Indeed, Paul adds to the conversation when, in 1 Corinthians 13, he says, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” And so it is with scribes and Pharisees and lawyers and, I will add, doctors. I have had several surgeries in my lifetime. And, I am here to tell you that the best recovery I had was always from the surgeons who could complement their education and knowledge with their caring and compassion. The first back surgery I had was in 1991. The surgeon, who I will not name, was touted as being the best neurosurgeon in western New York. But, his bedside manner was atrocious. He was also infamous for his arrogance and rude behavior. In my estimation, he was the epitome of Education without Character. Now some would say, “but being the best surgeon is the most important thing.” I am here to tell you it is not. Being a good surgeon is important, of course. But I think my recovery would have gone a lot more smoothly if he had also been a nicer man. Now, by contrast, my gastric bypass doctor, who is an excellent surgeon, is also a caring, considerate, friendly man. And, I recuperated from that surgery very quickly. We want to be loved; we want to be appreciated; we want to know that we are more than just another dollar sign. We want to know that the educated people we consult—whether it be in law or medicine or banking or the ministry—are also people with character, with integrity and honesty. A degree from Harvard Law School or Yale School of Divinity or Duke Medical School does not ensure character. Education in rocket science does not ensure integrity. Remember, the greatest minds with some of the highest education in the world created the atomic bomb. Some of the most knowledgeable researchers have harmed countless people with their experiments on unsuspecting patients. But, more on Science without Humanity next week. In the meantime, with regard to Education without Character, Stephen Covey says, “As dangerous as a little knowledge is, even more dangerous is much knowledge without a strong, principled character. Purely intellectual development without commensurate internal character development makes as much sense as putting a high-powered sports car in the hands of a teenager who is high on drugs. Yet all too often in the academic world, that’s exactly what we do by not focusing on the character development of young people.” He concludes by saying, “The people who are transforming education today are doing it by building consensus around a common set of principles, values, and priorities.” This, then, is what we can teach our children and our grandchildren: Education without Character is education wasted. Amen. |
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Sermons on Mahatma Gandhi’s “The Seven Social Sins”
1. Politics Without Principals
4. Pleasure Without Conscience
5. Education Without Character
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