When the Final Exam Came

A group of religion instructors were taking a summer course of the

life of the Savior -- focusing particularly on the parables. 

The following story was related by President James E.  Faust:

    When the final exam came, . . . the students arrived at the

classroom to find a note that the exam would be given in another

building across campus.  Moreover, the note said,

it must be finished within the two-hour time period that was

starting almost at that moment.  

The students hurried across campus. 

On the way, they passed a little girl crying over a flat tire
on her new bike. 

An old man hobbled painfully toward the library with a cane in one
hand, spilling books from a stack he was trying to manage with the other. 

On a bench by the union building sat a shabbily dressed, bearded man [in obvious distress].

    Rushing into the other classroom, the students were met by the

professor,  who announced that they had all flunked the final exam.

    The only test of whether they understood the Savior's life and

teaching, he said, was how they treated people in need.

    Their weeks of study at the feet of a capable professor

had taught them a great deal of what Christ had said and done. 

In their haste to finish the technicalities of the course, however,

they failed to recognize the application represented by the three

scenes that had been deliberately staged. 

They had learned the letter but not the spirit. 

As with all the teachings of the Savior,

the really worthwhile results come not from hearing, but from

doing.