INTRODUCING GEN X TO THE BIBLE
Vernon R. Totanes
Published on pages 26-27 of the First
Quarter 2003 issue of
the Windhover, the Philippine Jesuit magazine
“The teacher. Too weird,” was what one of my students wrote in
answer to the question “What did you NOT like about the last quarter?” I was so
happy with my student’s response that I started our next class, and even those
with other sections, by saying that this feedback was my favorite among all the
replies. And when they asked “Why?” I told them that I liked it so much because
it’s true. I am, in fact, weird. “I don’t think you have ever had or will ever
have another Religion teacher like me.” And, as if to prove my point, I told
them we were going to listen to the song “Seasons in the Sun” before I returned
their exams for the previous quarter.
SEASONS IN THE SUN
Many of my students liked boy bands and some did not, but the
reaction was fairly uniform. They were looking forward to it because teachers rarely
played songs in class. (And when teachers did let them listen to songs, they
were more likely to be religious songs and NOT the latest hits.) So I played
the song. And their faces fell. “What IS that?” I stopped the tape and asked
them what was wrong even though I knew what the problem was.
I had just played the version popularized by Terry Jacks in the
70s. And my students did not hear the Westlife version they expected to hear.
They said it was baduy. But the people of the 70s liked this song, I told
my students. How come they liked the Y2K version and not the 70s one? Their
answer? Because they were different from the audience of Terry Jacks. And even
though it was the same song with the same message, it was not going to “sell”
to them because it was not their kind of music.
That’s when I reminded my students of what we had been studying
the previous quarter. The gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, were
essentially the same song with the same message but were written at different
times for different audiences. Hence, they shouldn’t be surprised if the four
gospels were VERY different in more than just a few aspects. And if they could
not “get” a song written just 30 years earlier in the twentieth century, they
would have to make even more of an effort to understand the gospels written in
the first century.
I distributed copies of the lyrics and then I played the version
all of them were waiting for. Many sang along and, in one class, some even got
up and danced. Afterwards, we discussed the significance of seasons and how it
would be difficult for Filipinos to appreciate the importance to Americans of
the changing of the seasons. The term black sheep resonated with quite a few of
my students after I asked them whether a black-colored sheep would look at home
in a family of white-colored sheep. Some even volunteered that they were the
black sheep of their families.
After the English lesson, we went back to the Bible and agreed that
there would be a lot of things we would not understand if we assumed that
Jewish culture was the same as ours. And that it was important to remember that
figures of speech existed even in the Bible. Jesus was, in fact, NOT literally
a lamb.
Then I said, “Now that you’ve had your joy, you’ve had your fun,
you’ve had your seasons in the sun, here are your test papers.” Welcome back to
the real world!
SEASONS OF LOVE
During the next class, we used 1 Corinthians 7:1-13—”Love is
patient and kind...”—for our regular let’s-read-the-Bible-together opening
prayer. I knew they had gotten the results of their different tests and I
wanted to assure them that they were more than the numbers—whether favorable or
unfavorable—in their tests. That they were people, not numbers.
And of course, we had another song. This time I needed to explain
that the song was from a Broadway musical called Rent, something similar
to Miss Saigon (which was playing in Manila at that time). It was going
to be a different kind of song, nothing a boy band would sing.
The lyrics were different too. I wrote the number 525600 on the
board and asked my students what they thought it referred to. We did a little
math and figured that it was equal to 365 days times 24 hours times 60 minutes.
It was time to listen to the song. It asked if it was enough to measure life in
daylights, in sunsets... in inches, in miles... How about love?
What could that mean? SEASONS of love? Was it just referring to
romantic love? Could there really be a winter, spring, summer or fall of love?
And what season of love were they in at that point? REMEMBER the love? What
for? Wasn’t it much easier to take love for granted? Along with all the good
things people did for us? And HOW exactly do you measure your life in love?
MISSING THE POINT
They didn’t know it then but I had just prepared them for the test
at the end of the quarter. The multiplication of the loaves (Matthew 6:34-44,
8:1-9) was going to play a very important role. I would go on in another class
and tell them that maybe the numbers in the miracle stories were significant.
That maybe someone really counted the people present and there were, in fact,
exactly 4000 people present. Or that maybe it was meant figuratively, 4 to
represent the 4 corners of the world and 1000 to mean a great number of people.
And five loaves and two fish? Add them up and you get 7. For 7 days of the
week? Maybe...
And maybe we were missing the point. The miracle story—and the
Bible—is not so much about numbers or facts or even history, as it is about
God’s love for his people and the different responses to His love. But if we
don’t know how to read the Bible, we may just think that the early Israelites
lived and thought the way we do today. Or that everything written in the Bible is
factually correct. Or that Jesus really WAS a lamb. And miss the point.
The last question in the quarterly test involved a saying I saw on
a t-shirt: “Love is, like five loaves and two fish, always too little until you
start giving it away.” In order to answer it correctly, the allusion to the
five loaves and two fish had to be explained. But to leave it at that would not
have sufficed. Because the Bible is NOT just about five loaves and two fish. Or
miracles. Or parables. Or death and resurrection. The Bible is about love. And
that’s the point.