Mapagmalasakit/ Matapobre: Two Different Ways of Looking at the Poor in the Parable of the Good Samaritan in the light of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study rereads the Parable of the Good Samaritan in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. It explores the two ways of looking that the passers-by did when they encountered the man who was robbed and abused by the wayside. I termed these two ways of looking in Filipino as malasakit and matapobre. The priest and the Levite were matapobre (mata: eye/ to look; pobre: poor – literally looking down on the poor) in their reaction in that they saw the man but ignored to aid him. The Good Samaritan showed malasakit (malasin: to look; sakit: pain – looking at pain, being compassionate) because he saw the man and helped him in his misery. In this study, I appropriated the experience of the abused man by the wayside to the experiences of people who suffered the effects of the pandemic. I also enumerated the different displays of the matapobre and the malasakit attitudes of people during this pandemic. The three characters in the Parable all looked down on the poor, yet this looking down should be nuanced. The priest and the Levite looked down with contempt and indifference since they did not do anything for the man they saw. The Samaritan, on the other hand, looked down with his eyes of mercy. I cited Scriptural passages of God and Jesus Christ looking down on humanity, which serves as examples for Christians in their duty to help the poor. Our look of mercy on the poor will obtain for us God’s look of mercy and the privilege of looking at his face forever in heaven.