The Parable of the Istambays

Istambay can be translated as people who "stand by," "hang around," those waiting for opportunities to work, bums, or even "hangers on."

Istambays are now the targets of Duterte's peace and order campaign.

Many among us associate Istambays with the poor, those who lack education, those who live from one day to the next. Tragically, more of us think they are foul-mouthed, unruly, and prone to criminal behavior because they are poor, they lack education, and live from one day to the next. We even think they are lazy, are controlled by their emotions, and are always grumbling.

We have forgotten that if Jesus were alive today, he'd be one of them. And a target of Duterte's campaign.

Historians tell us that Jesus and his band were poor, lacked education, and lived from one day to the next. Anyone who reads the Gospels knows that Jesus was foul-mouthed. And Simon Peter as well.

That both the Roman and Judean elite wanted this unruly Galilean troublemaker dead to keep their brand of peace undisturbed is attested both canonically and extra-canonically. The fact that Jesus was crucified as a criminal requires no special pleading.

One of the most powerful stories of this istambay many of us confess as our Lord and Savior is the Parable of the Istambays in Matthew 20.

Research has shown us that the unemployed reached up to 15 percent during Jesus’s time. And a denarius is subsistence pay. Just enough for a person to eat for one day.

We confess that we, like Jesus, preach Good News to the poor, but every time we preach on this parable we take the side of the rich landowner. We celebrate his benevolence, his generosity, his being a symbol for God.

And we blame the Istambays for grumbling, for being ungrateful, for being unemployed, for being Istambays.