Ang Talinghaga ng Kaibigang Nangangailangan

See part 1 Here

Hating-gabi, at palibhasa'y buwan ng Enero, malamig ang simoy ng hangin. Kaya naman mahimbing na natutulog sina Mang Panchito, Aling Chichay, at kanilang anim na mga supling. Nagsisiksikan man sila sa munting kubong iyon, masarap pa ring matulog sa ibabaw ng banig na nakalatag sa kawayang sahig.

Biglang may bumasag sa katahimikan ng gabi. "Kumpare! kumpare!" tawag ng isang tao mula sa labas ng kubo. Kahit hirap na hirap si Mang Panchito sa pagdilat ng kanyang mga mata, nakilala pa rin niya ang pamilyar na tinig na tumatagos sa dingding. Ang tinig na iyon ay sa kaibigan niyang si Mang Dolphy.

"Pahingi naman ng dalawang gatang ng bigas o kahit kaning-lamig. Sapagkat habang ako'y natutulog nang mahimbing kagaya mo, ginising ako ni Kumpareng Cachupoy. Naglalakbay siya patungo sa ika-pitong burol at minarapat niyang sa tahanan ko magpalipas ng gabi. Hiyan-hiya ako dahil wala man lang akong maihain sa kanya. Tulungan mo naman ako, Pare!" ika ni Mang Dolphy.

May bahid ng galit ang tugon ni Mang Panchito, "Huwag mo akong gambalain! Wala akong maibibigay sa iyo. Heto nga't malalim na ang gabi at nagpapahinga na ako sampu ng aking pamilya."

Ngunit hindi natinag si Mang Dolphy. Sa tindi ng kanyang pangangailangan ay nagpakapal ng mukha at hindi tumigil sa pangungulit. Sa wakas ay sumuko si Mang Panchito. Hindi siya nakatiis kaya't siya'y bumangon. Iniabot niya kay Mang Dolphy hindi lamang ang kaning-lamig kundi pati ang isang lata ng sardinas at dalawang piraso ng saging.

At iyon ay kanyang ginawa hindi sa ngalan ng Pagkakaibigan kundi sa ngalan ng Tulog.

Kaya't sinasabi ko sa inyo: humingi kayo at kayo'y bibigyan; humanap kayo at makakasumpong; kumatok at kayo'y pagbubuksan.

Kayong mga ama na naririto: kung hihingi ba ang inyong anak ng ulam, bibigyan ba ninyo ng ahas? Kung siya'y hihingi ng lugaw, susubuan ba ninyo ng buhangin? Kung gayon na kayong mga masasama ay nagkakaloob ng mga bagay na mabubuti sa inyong mga anak, eh 'di higit pang tutugunan ng Mabuting Ama sa langit ang inyong mga pangangailangan. Hindi lamang mga bagay na pansamantala ang ibibigay Niya, kundi pati ang Banal na Espiritu na siyang bukal ng ginhawa't kapanatagan.

The Parable of the Persistent Friend

About half a decade ago, Pastor Onofre Malazo, Jr. of Guiding Light Christian Church (Dagupan) picked a handful of church members and assembled a class. Week after week, he patiently taught them lessons on bible interpretation, church history, Biblical Greek, various subjects of theology (Trinity, inerrancy, etc) and some contemporary theological trends (pragmatism, easy believism) etc.

Lately, from the mixed pile of garbage and precious things in my room, I recovered a three-page homework which I prepared for that class.

One of the earliest books we studied page by page in that class was Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. In the chapter on parables, Fee translates the Parable of the Good Samaritan into our own context. He retells it in modern points of reference in an attempt to give the contemporary audience the same emotions that the original hearers experienced. In Fee's version, the counterpart of the half dead man is a stranded family, a bishop for the priest and a Kiwanis Club president for the Levite.

Pastor Malazo asked each member of the class to choose a parable translate in in our own context the way Fee did.

My chosen parable is the one found in Luke 11:5-8 Some call it  The Parable of the Persistent Friend.
For this post, I will include only the exegetical portion of the homework I prepared. I shall post the contemporary retelling of the  parable for the next blog entry.

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The Parable of the Persistent Friend

"Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

"Then the one inside answers, `Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs." (Luke 11:5-8 NIV)

Friend A and Friend B are neighbors. One midnight, while Friend A is in deep slumber with his wife and children in an overcrowded single-room house¹, Friend B knocks at the door and with a sense of urgency he calls, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him (11:5-6).

In fairness to Friend b, he was the first one who was disturbed. Friend C is on a journey and he visits Friend B on the worst possible time. Is there no inn around? Is he on a cost cutting measure? Or does he simply miss his friend badly? I don't know.

In the ancient east, "hospitality is a sacred duty"². Alfred Edersheim says "Israel was always distinguished for hospitality" not only in the Bible but also in the Rabbinical tradition³.

Friend B is not asking for much-- just three loaves of bread; a simple meal for an unexpected visitor. It was not unusual for homes way back then to run out of bread. The poor operates under a subsistence economy-- that is they live under the barest means to sustain life. Furthermore, Barclay points out that "only enough for the day's needs was baked because, if it was kept and became stale, no one would wish to eat it."⁴

Friend A responds. The door is still locked but his voice passes through it. The first words that came out of his mouth were "DON"T BOTHER ME !!!"

Yet Friend B did not give up. He kept on shamelessly pounding the door. Finally he succeeds. "Though he will not get up and give him bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs." (11:8)

The Greek word translated as "boldness" is "anaideia. Joseph Thayer defines it as "shamelessness" and "impudence" ⁵.

In other words, Friend A gave NOT in the name of friendship but in the name of sleep. He gave NOT out of compassion but out of irritation for Friend B's "annoying persistence"⁶.

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The Parable's Intended Response

First, what is not intended in the text: The parable is not saying that our prayers will be answered by annoying God or irritating him. No one could twist the arm of God. The point of the parable is explained in the verses that follow (v.9-13)

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Our Lord wants us to be bold and persistent in prayer because of the goodness of the Father. The most generous persons, even the best dads in the world are sinners. If sinners give upon request, how much more will the Father, who is perfectly holy-- untainted by sin, will give good gifts to His children. We should not give up praying because the Father will not withold the things beneficial to us. He is willing to give not just the temporal things we need, but even the Holy Spirit, the source of all comfort.

 footnotes:

1. Howard Vos, New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs
2. William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible
3. Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life
4. Barclay, ibid
5. Joseph Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
6. John Macarthur, GTY broadcast 702 DZAS

Poor Man's Grave (Eraserheads)

Things I want to say

to the man who does not want to lie in a Poor Man's Grave

1.I have a good news for you: God cares for the poor and needy (Psalm 35:10)

2.There is a better way of spending your savings-- don't waste it on a golden box and a piece of lot where the grass is green and the gate shines. Leave it for your starving children.

3.You seem to be a religious man for you regularly go to church. Yet it alarms me that you claim to have no sin all your life. The Bible's testimony is we have all sinned and fell short of his standard (Romans 3:23). God would not have commanded us to repent if we were not sinners (Acts 17:30). We are all sinners and equally in need of forgiveness through the blood of his Son.

4.I urge you to learn from Jesus' story about The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Certainly, that rich man was buried in a luxurious tomb for when he was still alive, he wore the finest clothes. He also feasted extravagantly daily. But after burial, he goes straight to eternal torment.

On the other hand, there was a poor man-- perhaps poorer than you are today. He stayed at the rich man's gate-- not standing but laying. Perhaps the reason is he is physically handicapped. If he is physically strong and healthy, would he not resist the dogs that lick his wound?

He waits for the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table to be thrown at the gate and he must compete with the dogs every time. Surely, this man was buried in a poor man's grave, the very place you hate. Yet after death, he was escorted by no less than the Angels into the presence of Abraham. There, eternal comfort and joy awaits him.

5. The story of The Rich Man and Lazarus was originally given to address the Pharisees who were lovers of money (Luke 16:14). The love of money is a dangerous thing (1 Timothy 6:10). It's not only the rich folks who can be guilty of this sin but poor men as well. Therefore we are all are exhorted to store up treasures for ourselves not on earth but on heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matt.6:19-21). We must set our minds on things above and not on earthly things (Col.3:2), for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15)

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