Orang Kaya dan Lazarus yang Miskin

Tetapi Abraham berkata: Anak, ingatlah, bahwa engkau telah menerima segala yang baik sewaktu hidupmu, sedangkan Lazarus segala yang buruk. Sekarang ia mendapat hiburan dan engkau sangat menderita  

Lukas 16:25

Orang Kaya itu melihat Lazarus setiap hari di depan rumahnya. Dia tidak pernah kekurangan sesuatu apapun yang baik di dunia, sepertinya "everyday is holiday" itu benar-benar berlaku dalam hidup si Kaya. Penampilan Lazarus yang penuh borok dan didatangi anjing yang menjilati boroknya, serta selalu kelaparan hingga mengambil remah-remah makanan dari meja si Kaya tidak menggerakkan sedikitpun belas kasihan. Sungguh terlalu. 

Dan keduanya pun mati. 

Si Kaya masuk ke neraka dan Lazarus disambut oleh malaikat, dibawa ke surga, dan didudukkan di pangkuan Bapa Abraham. 

Di sini plot twist-nya berlangsung. Di dunia, Lazaruslah yang melihat ke meja Orang Kaya dan berharap belas kasihan namun tidak mendapatkan. Di akhirat, Orang Kaya melalukan hal yang sama dilakukan oleh Lazarus ketika di dunia, yaitu memandang ke atas dan memohon belas kasihan. 

An Angel Without Wings

During the period of Work from Home, I had a lot of time to reflect. Apparently, having a family is not only a blessing, but also requires additional work to support each other, especially when there are family members who got economically collapsed due to Covid-19 pandemic. Having no money in pandemic era is like a disaster. All activities must be stopped for the sake of 'staying at home', for cutting off the spread of the Covid-19 virus. A part of me is grateful that my company still pays me without any cut off. But the rest of me is still wondering, worried to be precise, when will this end? I can't start my own business, like others. I am the type of employee who receives a monthly salary. 

My mind goes back to the past, sometime in 2000. A time when I didn't get permanent job, yet. I have graduated from a good university with an excellent academic record. At that time, I thought it would not be difficult for me to get a job. As it turned out, I had to wait for that opportunity for a year and a half. I didn’t want to ask my mom to finance me. I didn’t have a heart to do it. My mom has been widowed for more than three years. She was a good manager of our house, especially in managing money for our life. She didn’t earn much, but we didn’t lack of anything. Even though she worked independently, and no relatives came to help her, she had faith that God would provide all of our need. That’s why I had the urgency to finish school as soon as possible so I could help her financially. I was sad that it wasn’t like what I had planned.