The Gospel Material

Oral tradition
It is important to understand the nature of this biblical material. As far as the gospels are concerned, the material used in them would have circulated by word of mouth for about 30 years. When it was realised Jesus was not going to return in the immediate future and written records would be important, it was gradually written down. The gospels share a lot of material in common, getting it from the same sources, but they also have their individual sources. Further, they have their own aims in writing so they use their material in different ways to achieve this e.g. rearranging the order, adjusting the language, varying the details.

The fact that there are two accounts of this parable with their variations does not lead us to question the validity of the biblical text as much as to seek to understand why it should be like that. If all four gospels had identical material there would, perhaps, be good reason to be suspicious of it! Biblical scholarship concerns itself with discovering ever more about the documents themselves and how they came to be as they are.

Faith documents not biography
The gospels are not historical documents but faith documents, written by Christians for Christians or would-be Christians, so there is a layer of belief woven into the historic material. The faith dimension is what gives the historical work its meaning and shows the significance of Jesus for those who took him and his message seriously.

Questions

1. What might have affected the reliability of the account of the teachings of Jesus during their oral transmission?
2. Why are eye-witness accounts of incidents often different in their details?
3. Is it possible to remove the personal interpretation from historical records and discover raw facts?

Attitudes to life

By emphasizing God's demanding nature, this parable challenges people's attitudes to life. It's about sorting out priorities. What really matters in the long run? It says to the Christian: God is demanding - so what are we going to do about it? What is really worth putting effort into? What has most value? In this parable two servants took full responsibility for themselves and their duties, taking into account the master they worked for, while the other really didn't rise to the challenge, hadn't worked out his priorities or understood the master he served. He ran away from what he knew would be the awkward return of the demanding boss.

Questions

1. What influences affect people's approach to living, for good and for bad?
2. What difference might belief in a God make to the way people live? Why?
3. What is done in education to help children to understand life? What else, or what more, might be done?

Stewardship

This has become a familiar concept especially in relation to the environment. It means that people do not have ownership of the planet but it has been given to them as stewards to take care of it. Having received something from past generations, the responsibility is to pass it on in a worthy state to future generations. This parable highlights the same concept in relation to personal lives. Life is a gift. It is the individual's responsibility to ensure personal gifts are taken care of and contribute to others both now and for the future. The religious person regards these gifts as God-given and believes they have to be accountable to God for the way they use or misuse them. The parable presents these challenges for the believer:

• How to use talents and abilities rightly.
• How to respond to opportunities.
• How to be ready for the sudden challenge.
• How to be constantly alert and not miss the moment.
• How to handle responsibilities.
• How to deal with the effects of fear and lack of trust.
• How to have the confidence (meaning 'with faith') to take appropriate risks.
• How to recognise and avoid excuses to justify laziness and self-centredness.

Questions

1. What areas of stewardship in life and the environment should individuals consider as potentially their responsibility?
2. How might belief in God affect attitudes to stewardship?
3. What impedes people from meeting the exciting challenges which life presents?
4. What resources (e.g. physical, spiritual, mental) do you think would most enable people to live their lives to the fullest in the way the parable suggests?
5. What responsibility have teachers to aid pupils in their perception of and preparedness for life? What methods might they adopt to achieve this?