Passing the examination

I had a friend when I was a middle school student [we called it Junior High] who was both intelligent [smart] and very clever [very smart]. In many ways he was the epitome of what today we might call a “nerd” but by all accounts he came by it honestly: his father, a would-be inventor and sometimes science fiction author, was not your normal kind of father [I am being kind].

I remember one occasion when our grade nine class was all gathered to partake in one of those most feared and horrendous events – the mid-term examination, in science. There are many things in life that are beyond one’s control and this sadly was one of them. Prepare as I might I always seemed to be unprepared come the event itself and so would begin what had become for me an established tradition: staring at the questions as if they had been written in some foreign language and unrecognizable script [which to this day I am utterly convinced they were]. In any case I felt such examinations were quite unfair because they asked questions [which was bad enough], the answers to which seemed incomprehensible [thereby exacerbating my dilemma]. The examination began sharply at 9.00 in the morning. My friend handed in his papers less than five minutes later.

I struggled through the one hour examination [was it really only one hour – it seemed an eternity], handed in my rather feeble attempt and eagerly sought out my friend. As you might well appreciate, I had now some questions of my own. I asked him what had happened, that is, why he had remained in the class room less than five minutes before handing in his paper. His answer was that upon turning the examination paper over and reading the instructions, he noticed we had been asked to underline all the correct answers [to the best of my recall it was a multiple choice opportunity]. In obedience to this command he simply drew one line at the bottom of each of the several pages, thereby underlining all correct answers, and handed the completed paper to the teacher. What brilliance! What courage! He later had to argue his case before the teacher which met with success [there was, after all, no instruction not to underline the wrong answers] and so received a grade of 100% [the teacher must have been a nerd also.

Sometimes we have a tendency to think of the Christian faith in terms of preparing for an examination – and a final examination at that! We so easily turn Gospel into law, we see promises in terms of goals that we must attain, and understand Christian living as an obligation rather than privilege. Consequently, when we read the Parable of the Talents [MT 25.14-30] it is difficult for us to see in it anything other than an ominous warning against failing to use the various gifts that the Lord has given us and so begin to fret over which of the slaves most describes our efforts [or lack thereof].

What is of particular note in the Parable is the specific emphasis on the slave who buries the talent given him by his master for fear that any effort on his part might fail to meet his master’s expectations. His attitude and perception speaks volumes. He enters into the entire transaction with an understanding of the master being harsh and perhaps unjust, extracting from others more than what was his to gather. Fear drives him to bury the talent entrusted to him. Fear often incapacitates us.

He does not understand the kindness [or generosity] of his master who to each slave gives an amount in trust that is in keeping with the ability of each. The master does not expect more of them than they are each able to give. Regardless of the amount entrusted to the first two slaves the master rewards each the same and invites them both to enter into his joy. The real issue it would seem was not in the amount that was entrusted to each slave or what in the end they were able to accomplish with that amount, but rather the attitude they had towards the master. What possibly could Jesus be telling us in this Parable?

Each one of us is gifted in many and quite remarkable ways and, yes, each of us is called to use the gifts we have been given for the work of the Kingdom to the very best of our ability. It is the least we can do to show appreciation to our Master and Friend for all that He has done for, and given us. It is love towards Him that generates our activity and His enormous generosity that motivates our labors. And lest we sometimes fear that our use of the gifts He has given will result in us failing to pass the great final test that will one day be put to each one of us, let us never forget that He has already underlined all the right answers with His own blood.