Sunday, November 26, 2006 Luab: Real Pharisees By Evelyn R. Luab Light Sunday
“WHO among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” (LK 14:1-6.)
The scholars of the law and the Pharisees expected Jesus to play by the rules. When Jesus performed a miracle of healing on the Sabbath, they were stunned.
Let us look at ourselves today. The law says “no work, no pay.” In these times to follow that rule explicitly is inhuman. Small entrepreneurs cannot obey the 100 percent overtime pay on holidays or special holidays, so many disobey this rule. However, the more humane entrepreneurs listen to the plea of their employees. A compromise is reached. They put in two hour overtime each day for four days and when the holiday comes, they rest but there is no deduction on the pay slip. Everyone is happy.
Some cottage industries declare a no advance in salary, no vale system. The boss insists on it. However, most of the time, it’s the wife who is approached and she readily gives the advance without adding an interest and without letting the boss know.
She gets paid a hundred a week till the advance is settled and the employee in dire need gets compassion.
Recently I met a very true to life Pharisee at a government agency. I was working on some documents but, due to unforeseen circumstances, I fell short of a compliance of the law in the said agency and the woman-in-charge insisted that I settle in cash right away or else... Now I know why subversives do what they do. Because at the moment I felt like using an M-16 and blasting away at her. She was so supercilious and self-righteous sitting on the high chair of holier-than -thou and refused to acknowledge the gravity of the situation I was in before going to her office.
What did I do? I did what every decent educated person does. I said, “Ma’am since obviously there is nothing I can do, I will use a manager’s check which is as good as cash.”
To be fair, she was only doing her job. She was obeying the rule. She was sticking to the red tape. However, I really had not done anything to intentionally fall short of the law as explained by my letter, which she didn’t even bother to read. I left the office saying to myself, “One day she will pass the same road I went through. She will also feel what I felt." On that note, I felt better. (Bad of me, no?)
Bea, my three-year-old granddaughter, is so chubby and cute. She lives in New Jersey. The rule her mom and dad set was, “No, no Cheetos” (a special junk food, cheese-like in taste) before breakfast. Bea loves to eat Cheetos.
When her mom sees her taking one out from the fridge her mom says, “Aah-aah!” Bea’s eyes twinkle and she returns it. Then she turns to us and says, “How about I drink my soup, eat Cheetos and clean my playroom. One hour later I eat breakfast.”
What mom or grandmother could resist that kind of a compromise from an intelligent three-year-old? The day starts out fine and everybody is happy!
Some doctors know when to bend the rule. Diabetics are not allowed to eat anything sweet. However, when the patient refuses to eat anything at all because his desire for food is nil, some doctors allow ice-cream or mango. Why not?
When my Dad was manager at Cepoc he was very strict on workers sleeping on their jobs. It was always the third shift (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.) that had the most casualties.
However, if he knew that the employee had been sleepless for days because a parent had just died or a parent was admitted to the hospital, he would just wake the employee and admonish him saying, “I understand why you are sleepy. Get up and walk around. Don’t let this happen again.” Sleeping on the job would not appear in the report of this particular employee.
In school, normally teachers whether in public or private schools do sell raffle tickets. Normally advisers of a section would demand, the “no return, rule.” However, if the teacher knows that the buy comes from a poor family, the teacher accepts the return ticket.
Traffic officers can be the most exasperating individuals. They don’t listen to reason. At one time, a long time ago, the “Do not enter sign” was placed high above the tree, seen only by those who knew such a sign existed. When I reasoned that I was not looking upwards but was watching the road, a fine was still given to me. His reason? I was not blind!
There really are so many ways of becoming Pharisees ourselves. Please, remember Jesus, had no place in His heart for Pharisees.
We always did pride ourselves with the saying that the Filipino is as resilient as the bamboo. We know how to bend with the wind. Perhaps those in offices which demand a lot of paper work can look into their hearts. There they may just find that red tape isn’t often the answer to service. Compassion, understanding and kindness is.
(Thank you Josephine Tang for clipping my articles and using them for a good purpose.)
