A 45 year old illegal Albanian immigrant

Every few weeks I host an evening called ‘Passages’. Each time we look at a different passage from the biblical Scriptures to discuss, reflect upon, interpret, and – hopefully – apply. So far we’ve been very simply looking at the various parables of Jesus and discussing what they might mean for us living in the 21st century. We’ve also considered what these parables might be like today if Jesus was around now telling stories to us in our current cultural context.

Inspired by this, a friend of mine has actually written the below parable that I want to share with us today. Awaken isn’t a religious blog and I simply share this modern parable because it inspires us all to think about looking out for the person in need around us. What I love about the person of Jesus is that he himself manages to transcend religion and speak to humanity, even if many of his followers have tried to contain him inside Christianity.

Anyway, this is already far too long of an introduction. Let me get straight to sharing the parable my friend has written:

A 45 year old Albanian man recently attempted to smuggle himself into the UK with his 22 year old daughter on board a shipping freight container. They had planned to reconnect with his younger son; who several years earlier had managed to illegally enter the UK. The son had since found a low paying job that paid cash in hand, and lived in rented accommodation. However, on arrival at port at night, the men they had paid to help smuggle them into the UK double-crossed them. The father was held down, while his terrified daughter was brutally raped in front of him, in spite of his pleas for mercy. He was then beaten unconscious, their remaining money and passports stolen, and left for dead. The men took the daughter and “sold” her on to other associates they knew were involved in the sex trade, to maximise their profit.

After some time however, the concussed and bleeding father regained consciousness and managed to drag himself to a nearby payphone beside a pub, and contact his son with the few coins he’d been left. As he nursed his injuries, and huddled on the pavement against the pub wall waiting for his son, several police arrived to deal with a nearby disturbance. One of the policewoman present noticed him while she and her colleague were separating a group of intoxicated teenagers; and she presumed him to be one of the stag party members who were celebrating at the same pub. She queried him briefly, but his mumbled and incoherent response in broken English made no sense to the policewomen. As it was a Friday night and she had dealt with many calls already, she left his ‘friends’ at the pub to look after him before being called away shortly to help her colleagues elsewhere. Before the had police left, the Albanian’s son arrived, but assuming that the police were involved he panicked and ran away. He had not seen his father in many years, and had no intention of giving up the life he had made for himself in the UK. He rationalised to himself that after his father had been deported they could get in touch again, to plan another attempt.

As the night drew on, and it began to get colder, the father realised his son wasn’t coming. With only a rudimentary understanding of English, he tried to mumble for help through his swollen lips to the people that were spilling out of the pub. The first person to notice him was a young school teacher celebrating one of her colleagues’ birthday. She however shrank back from the outstretched hand of this “drunk” as she passed him, in case he soiled her favourite dress, or vomited on her shoes. She dropped a couple of coins near him instead, and then walked on to catch a cab home. The next person to pass was a middle aged business man on the way to Premier Inn. As he had just endured a horrendous late night budget airline flight and was busy hunting for his previously booked room, he gave little thought to the broken and hurting Albanian as he tried to gesture for help. The business man avoided eye contact, and walked briskly past him on to his destination.

An hour later, as the Albanian began to lapse in and out of consciousness, a homeless man started to wheel his trolley past him. At first the homeless man growled at him to move over so he could pass by him, but he quickly noticed the Albanian was hurt, and that he wouldn’t survive the night on the pavement. He helped the Albanian onto his trolley and pushed him to the nearest hospital to get help. There, the Albanian’s broken bones, concussion, blood loss, and exposure were quickly tended to, and in due time while he began to heal, the authorities were contacted and informed of his traumatic story.

Question to ponder: which character in this story would you be?

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Tagged as: Helping Others, Humanity, Life