Did you pass, or did you fail?
We don’t want to say that things are always black or white. We don’t like the binary way things work out occasionally. We prefer the element of ambiguity, the shades of grey, the aspect in which it isn’t one thing or the other but a mix—a hodgepodge. I love the word hodgepodge. Great word. Up there with shenanigans as the kind of word you say, thank God for the English language producing these words even if the English language might have used an assist.
Yet, for all that clamour to respect the grey and settle for the murky, some things in life operate on a clear outcome. It’s evident in education systems that operate on the simple pass-or-fail metric. Employers could not care less about your effort; they want to know if you have the qualifications they seek. They don’t care if you studied all night and then had a migraine. They don’t care if your attendance record was sparkling and you suffered from a cold on the exam day. They want to know – did you pass or fail?
I don’t subscribe to the view that the ends justify the means. Here’s something about a journey after all, and I’m convinced that to reach the right destination, it helps if you walk down the right path. Yet, the whole point of the journey is to reach the destination. The entire point of the game is to win. Taking part as a consolation isn’t that consoling when you lose. The joy of the process is that you get to check what could have been better if you missed out, so if you get the chance to go again, you can improve to a better outcome. The idea is all about the outcome. The concept of the test is to pass.
As much as we want to give Jesus a fuzzy and cuddly makeover that gives the impression that it doesn’t matter about this and it doesn’t matter about that all that matters is that you’re around, that’s all that matters – this is a makeover, that denies us the real Jesus. He is gracious, for sure. He is merciful without doubt. We will not do anything on our strength and our merit. For that, we’re grateful. There is still the idea that He will judge in the end. His judgement is about who gets in and who doesn’t. He does not have a grey area for folks who kinda did or kinda didn’t. Judgement is still about the outcome of our lives. He won’t be looking to see what we tried and the effort we put in. He will be just and fair in regarding did we know Him. Did we place faith in Him? Was He Lord of all or not at all?
I’m glad I don’t make the rules, and I’m glad I don’t make that final judgement. I’m ill-equipped for both tasks. Jesus is far better in that role. And I’m aware that He not only makes the rules, He determines how the judgement will go, and He even makes it possible to pass without depending on anyone but Him. In education, we’re told we’re cheating if we look at the answers – in discipleship, we’re cheating ourselves if we don’t look at the Answer. The very Rabbi who sets things up is the same Rabbi who makes everything possible to pass as long as we look to the Answer. He wants us to look. He wants us to look deeply. He wants us to take Him on board and trust Him to take us all the way through the procedure, appreciating the process with Him on board and being assured that He will take us to the end – to the finishing post and then it won’t come as a surprise at that time that the one who was giving us the answers all the way through is the same one that turns around and says we’ve passed. He taught us the curriculum. He wrote the answers through us. He marks the answers. We’ve passed. Best test ever.
It says a lot about how silly we are that despite all of this that He lays out for us, we’d still instead turn our back to that and muddle our way through the grey, through the ambiguity, through the mess. It says a lot about how deluded we are that some of us will start with Jesus and say we’re doing things in His name, but really, we’re doing things for ourselves in our power for our security and self-worth. It says a lot about us that we’re that way inclined. It says a lot about God that He still appeals. That He still points us to His Son by His Spirit. That He still says that as long as there’s life there’s hope if we repent.
It's another reason why He deserves glory and honour and praise to be that patient with us. To still call us to Himself to find out the way, the truth and the life.
Yeah, I mess up on this journey. I mess up big time. I fail parts of the test. Yet for all that, I am committed to the journey with Jesus because He is the only way I pass. He is the only way I pass this life and go onto something even greater. That which is ahead informs how I live now and see His wonder, His beauty, His brilliance here and now, helping me to pass.
For His Name's Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
