Luke 18:9-14 MSG He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people:
“Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
13 “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
14 Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
Observation
Pharisees demonstrated their piety by strict adherence to the Law and the oral traditions. They were educated in the Law and their commitment and dedication were commendable. Being judges of the matters of the Law was their full time job, so among the “common people” Pharisees were well respected and considered pious spiritual authorities, ones who kept themselves separate from the profane and secular. However, over the centuries in their zealous desire to define what is obedience to the Law, they developed hundreds of additional necessary actions required to comply with the Law. (I am told that there were 60 pages on how and when to wash your hands in the Mishnah, the written version of the oral laws!)
You can see that it would be a full time job to try to live up to all the requirements. It was truly impossible for those who had to work for a living, those common people. So, the Pharisees were put on a pedestal by the people. Because they allowed themselves to become prideful and take the praise for themselves, they got off track and tended to set themselves up as judges of the spiritual worth and physical compliance of everyone else. Unfortunately, no one else was good enough to please God. This was one of the issues they had with Jesus’ teaching, a teaching of redemption, mercy, grace and a Heaven open to the common people and, oh no!, even the profane and secular wicked sinner. Jesus said of them, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” For more on how Jesus judged the Pharisees zeal, see Matthew 23.
These two were probably in the Temple Court, a common public place for people to come to pray. It was also customary to pray out loud, so these two very probably heard each other’s prayer. This Pharisee wanted to make sure that everyone within hearing was aware that he strictly obeyed all the rules. His prayer would have sounded right to others listening as he was a Pharisee, a step above them spiritually and in God’s sight . He was shaming the tax man and praising himself for all his godly works. Jesus expressed His opinion of this attitude of “nose in the air” in the Gospels calling these religious snobs a brood of vipers and hypocrites (see Matthew 23 above).
The tax man, on the other hand, was despised as a Roman collaborator and oppressor of the people (the profane and secular wicked sinner to be avoided). He would have been scorned by both the Pharisee and the populace who would believe he had no hope of ever making his life right with God. The tax man’s prayer would have surprised them as he recognized and confessed his sinful state and cried out for God’s mercy.
Even more astounding would be Jesus’ statement, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God.” We hear the echo of the reformed prostitute, the thief on the cross, the lepers and others who found that same hope, mercy and redemption at the hand of Jesus. If this tax man can be justified before God, then there is hope for all. This was truly good news. Jesus is teaching that the way to salvation and righteousness is not earned by good works, but rather by confession, humble repentance and embracing the free gift of salvation provided by the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus.
Impact on Me
Parables are stories that teach a lesson requiring heart searching and a response. Jesus is not teaching me here about the mechanics of prayer, but rather is giving me insight into maintaining right standing with God by contrasting the attitude of prayer between the two – the proud and pious Pharisee and the broken and humble tax man. This parable is not about what I do as I pray or the specific words I pray, but rather about the condition of my heart when I pray.
I don’t need to list all the good things I have done. God knows what I have done in His name, but, more importantly, He also knows my “why” (the motivation of my heart) in the doing. If I do good works so that others will see me as devout, spiritual and worthy of praise, I am the Pharisee above. The praise of people will be all the right standing I get for all my efforts. 5 “And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat? 6 “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” (Matthew 5:5-6 MSG)
If I approach God with a humble and contrite heart to seek what it is He asks me to do and be – seen or unseen, recognized or unrecognized, approved or disapproved by others, submitting myself to His will, plan and purpose rather than my own – I am like the repentant tax man who found right standing with God. This does not give me license to sin nor does it tell me to be lazy in my worship and ministry for God. This story challenges me to recognize that there is no one so vile, secular and wicked a sinner (including me) that cannot be redeemed.
So, in response to this parable, I ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart for the prideful places, the selfish and arrogant pieces of me, those places where I have become the Pharisee, so they can be revealed, removed and replaced with humble, selfless and Jesus-like meekness and submission to God’s plan and purpose for my life.
Prayer
Lord, You are my Creator, my Redeemer. I come to You as the tax man asking for mercy and grace to keep me in right standing with You. As David prayed, so do I. Make it so in Jesus’ name.
Psalm 139:1-3, 23-24 NIV You have searched me, Lord, and You know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways…23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 