This sentence is from Japanese the Manga Way panel 371, translation as given in the textbook.
和尚にたのまれていた肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
I'll also go ahead and finish off that physical labour that the priest asked me to do.
My question is regarding the speaker's (Kousuke) choice of たのまれていた. It seems clear that ～ている is being used in the "state resulting from an action" rather than the continual sense, i.e. it refers to the priest's request putting Kousuke in a state where he felt obliged to fulfil it. But if the request is still standing, why is he referring to it in the past tense? たのまれていた gives me the impression that "I was asked, but it's not an issue now". To me たのまれている or simply たのまれた make more sense.
One possible explanation is that Kousuke had been letting this request stand for a while, to the extent that he felt sufficiently disconnected from "the state of being requested" to use the past tense.
Context: Summer is getting too hot for strenuous exercise, so Kousuke decides he'll suspend his jogging until cooler days arrive in the fall. He also figures he should take care of the wood he'd promised to chop for the priest at the nearby temple before it gets any hotter. (verbatim from the textbook)
Kousuke delivers this sentence as an internal monologue.
Answer
和尚にたのまれていた肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
和尚にたのまれている肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
和尚にたのまれた肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
... all sound alright to me and mean pretty much the same thing.
和尚にたのまれた肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
sounds to me like "~~~ physical labour that the priest asked me to do." You can say
和尚に先週たのまれた肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
...adding 先週(last week), but not 先週から(since last week).
和尚にたのまれている肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
sounds to me like "~~~ physical labour that the priest has asked me to do." You can say
和尚に先週からたのまれている肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
...adding 先週から, but not 先週.
和尚にたのまれていた肉体労働も今のうちに片づけてしまう。
sounds to me like (しばらく前に)たのまれていた(けれどまだやっていなかった/そろそろやらないといけない), like "~~~ physical labour that the priest asked me to do (a while ago but I haven't done yet/I should be doing now)".
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