Luke 18:14 NIVUK
[14] ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Have you ever heard the saying that ‘You get out of something what you put into it.’
Of course, this is not always the case if you invest in the stock market, and even less so if you invest in digital currencies.
However, there remains the idea that it is people who are enthusiastic and ‘invested’ in a project who get a lot out of it, and those who are cynical, apathetic and unengaged who fulfil their own prophecy and go home with nothing.
That is true, in a sense, of our relationship with God and the church.
But only up to a point.
The parable we will now study is satirical, deeply challenging, and, doubtless, in Jesus’ day, controversial. It rather cleverly pits two of His period’s most well known, but polar opposite, groups of people in a situation they would have had in common.
However, it belies the idea that we get out of something what we put into it.
Why?
Because when the Pharisee enters the temple, he has a lot to bring. He is a ‘righteous’, ‘holy’ man, well-versed in theology, dressed conservatively according to the standards of the day, and well-regarded.
Yet he leaves the temple with nothing. His act of worship leaves him cold.
But the tax collector has nothing to bring except his deep remorse.
Yet he leaves the temple blessed and full.
Why is that?
What can we learn from this?
Let’s start by looking at The Audience for this parable.
The Audience
Luke 18:9 NIVUK
[9] To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
Now, it is this short verse that puts a much more powerful spin on this parable.
Jesus tells it to a single group of people, who have two characteristics:
They are utterly convinced that they are righteous – that their measure of justice is just, their conscience is sound, their philosophy correct, their theology on-point and their morality faultless.
They utterly despise those who do not agree with them.
It isn’t hard at all to find people like this in the religious sphere – in any religion.
But lately, this element of, quite frankly, entitled, over-confident self-righteousness has left the religious domain and became a part of secular culture.
Look at the unrighteous rage that ensues online between those with different opinions on politics, sexuality, gender, race, technology, sports teams – just about anything, it seems.
For years, our culture has aggressively taught tolerance in every possible sphere, and those who have dissented, even if they had firm moral grounds to do so, were despised.
Now, however, there can be no doubt that intolerance is the order of the day.
Western culture is in the process of eating itself and it is intolerance that provides the appetite. The enemies of our culture could save themselves a fortune and not bother with all the misinformation campaigns and the provocation.
What’s the point? Why try to divide our society, when it is already divided?
The Bible is categorically clear: the church should be a place where we, in humility, seek the benefit of others before our own (Philippians 2:3-5), where there is strength, and not at all weakness, in our differences (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
But let’s be honest: things are not as they should be.
Jesus here is not just describing secular relationships. They are bad enough.
No, this verse also describes how relationships often are between sincere, Bible-believing Christians.
The reality is that it is human nature to compare ourselves to others, and to feel good about ourselves when we have something others do not, or to feel bad about ourselves when the opposite is true – and this has been amplified beyond belief by social media. However, we can’t blame technology for it. That would be like blaming the radiologist for finding the cancer.
No, this tendency was already there. It is basic human nature.
And it is folly:
2 Corinthians 10:12 NIVUK
[12] We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
Saying that this stinging parable is aimed at the Pharisees is too easy. Luke doesn’t say that.
He says that it is aimed at those who feel self-righteous, and who despise others who are not the same.
If we have any honesty and integrity, we will realise that this parable is aimed at us.
So let’s move on from the audience to consider the first group of people this parable is about: The Pharisees.
The Pharisees
Luke 18:10-12 NIVUK
[10] ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
Many Christians know the Pharisees as almost being like dangerous pantomime baddies in the Gospel: religious hypocrites who seek to kill Jesus because He is against their hypocrisy.
However, for many years, they were not seen that way at all. They had emerged out of the Maccabean rebellion against the Seleucid Empire, which had sought to remove all that was precious from the Temple and use it as a place to worship Zeus. The Pharisees had been instrumental in the national revival that followed. They were also not as high class as the Sadducees and were viewed favourably by the people.
That is how they came to be known as ‘Hebrews of Hebrews’ (Philippians 3:5).
However, Jesus clearly saw beneath that favour. He saw men who cared passionately about theological and religious orthodoxy, but this passion did not extend to the moral and civil aspects of the law.
They were outwardly religious and inwardly rotten.
Even a passive reading of Jesus’ rebukes of the Pharisees reveals this (see Matthew 23:13-36).
They were also highly nationalistic. Their fervour for their identity as Jews and their Temple is part of what led them to want to kill Jesus (John 11:46-53).
There are, it has to be said, strong resemblances between these men and the so-called ‘religious right’ or ‘Christian nationalist’ movements.
The Pharisees also looked down on any who disagreed with them. We can see traces of this in their open contempt for Jesus and His followers (see John 7:47-49 for an example).
They were the perfect archetype of precisely the attitude Jesus sought to counteract with this parable.
However, there us another side to this which makes things a lot darker. These paragons of spirituality, theology and national pride were actually an antidote for the Gospel:
Matthew 23:13 NIVUK
[13] ‘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.
And this is still true.
People haven’t been leaving American churches in droves not because they believe the Gospel is not true, they have been leaving because of the offensive attitudes of so many so-called ‘Christians’ towards people who could not be more lost and need our compassion and our help, not our condemnation. They have been turned off to the Gospel by gnat-straining and camel-swallowing (Matthew 23:24), which is über-focused on imposing religious morality, while ignoring rampant immorality among religious leaders.
In short, Phariseeical attitudes.
It is this ‘holier-than-thou’ thinking that prevents people from crossing the threshold of a church, for fear that their life will be held up to examination and condemned outright by people who are likely doing worse behind closed doors.
We have to face the cold, hard reality here: the Pharisee is not the hero of this story.
In fact, in this clever and incisive satire, Jesus does not blink and hit the wall.
The prayer this Pharisee uses is similar to the doxology every Jewish male was required to pray every day:
‘Blessed art Thou, O Lord my God, that Thou hast not made me a Gentile, a woman or a slave.’
This Pharisee is thanking God that God has made him exceptional – not like other people, riff-raff that they are – and definitely not like the tax collector. His prayer is haughty, proud and downright offensive, but, to be honest, not untypical.
However, the prayer of this religious man is utterly misplaced and borderline blasphemous.
Why?
Because he is in the Temple – the very representation of the presence of Almighty God and everything that made the Jews unique, and even there he did two things:
He prayed to himself – the Greek makes this much clearer than the translated English. God for him was nothing more than a proper noun at the start of a thoroughly improper sentence. It is simply extraordinary that this man could be in the place that represented the presence of Almighty God and pray a prayer that is completely based on himself.
He praised himself. This is also utterly incomprehensible.
This is like two women we saw recently on holiday. We were in front of the Sagrada Familia, Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece in Barcelona which, after three hundred years, is still not complete. There is little doubt that it is an architectural marvel.
Yet these women took pictures of each other sitting on a bench, next to a tree, facing away from the cathedral.
They were in the presence of greatness, but their pictures could have been taken anywhere.
This Pharisee was in the very presence of Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Yet who does he praise?
Himself.
Completely and utterly bizarre.
Galling beyond comprehension.
Yet I’m sure several people were snickering with laughter as Jesus told this parable. It may have been ridiculous, but it wasn’t out of character. I’m sure many people in his audience could imagine a pompous Pharisee doing exactly that.
But it is wrong. Plain and simple. This man is in the Temple of God, yet he is worshipping an idol:
Himself.
Do you see how sharp this parable is? Do you feel its searing heat?
Jesus is satirising all who have no interest in seeking Him at all, but who use their religiosity as a means to feel good about themselves and bad about others, who have no thought to the glory of God but only their own, who give no thought to the Gospel, but only to controlling the narrative of their own reputation.
And Jesus is very clear: such people get nothing from worship.
Not one thing.
They are list-checkers and nit-pickers and perfectionists, for whom every single aspect of church worship has to be ‘just-so’.
But it’s all an act. It’s all fake.
Because they have no relationship with God at all.
I don’t doubt for a second that this parable would have stung. Seriously stung.
But we move from the audience and the Pharisee to the second character in this parable: The Tax Collector.
The Tax Collector
Luke 18:13 NIVUK
[13] ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Now, if you have in mind that this guy worked for the equivalent of the Inland Revenue or the IRS or the BIR or any other state authority, you are mistaken.
What these guys did was miles worse.
They were Jews, but they worked for the Roman occupation force.
And their job was scandalous. These men collected taxes from their own people that paid for the Roman occupation.
Worse, the Romans gave them a wide remit. They could charge their people whatever they liked, provided the Romans got their share.
And so they did. They absolutely gouged their people, sometimes using the menace of the local battalion of Roman soldiers. They gave Caesar his share, but they made sure they got theirs. This made them incredibly rich.
They were traitors to their people. Collaborators. Those who sold their own people to get rich themselves.
While the Pharisees were respected by their fellow Jews, the tax collectors were utterly despised. And not without good reason.
Hence the derisory response when Jesus dined with these men:
Matthew 9:10-13 NIVUK
[10] While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. [11] When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ [12] On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. [13] But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’
Mark 2:16 NIVUK
[16] When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
Luke 15:1-2 NIVUK
[1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear Jesus. [2] But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.’
But we get it, right? We understand it.
These men were the villains of he piece, and the Pharisees were the heroes.
But not as far as Jesus is concerned.
In this parable, rather shockingly for Jesus’ Jewish audience, the traitorous tax collector comes out on top. He is the one who leaves the Temple and goes home justified before God, not the religious Pharisee.
But why?
To find out, we must turn from our consideration of the audience, the Pharisee and the tax collector to consider The Outcome.
The Outcome
Luke 18:14 NIVUK
[14] ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
The very idea that a tax collector could surpass a Pharisee in anything but greed and dishonesty would have been utterly absurd to Jesus’ audience. How a nationalist, ‘righteous’ theologian could ever take second place to a double-dealing, traitorous tax collector would seem thoroughly unjust to them.
But there us a good reason for it. And it lies within the Pharisee’s treasured Torah:
Psalms 51:17 NIVUK
[17] My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Hosea 6:6 NIVUK
[6] For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
The Pharisees knew the Word of God, but had missed the point. As Jesus Himself said to them:
John 5:39-40 NIVUK
[39] You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, [40] yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
The Pharisees got three key things wrong:
Firstly, their position. Put very simply, they were sinners but could not bring themselves to admit it.
How do we know this?
The Bible is utterly uncompromising:
Romans 3:22-24 NIVUK
[22] This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
As their own Torah taught them, God was never seeking for His people to simply sacrifice cattle to them. What God wanted from the very beginning was people who would realise they were sinners and would repent.
Secondly, their pride. Their pride in who they were and what they had achieved prevented them from acknowledging who they really were and where they had gone wrong.
As King Solomon noted:
Proverbs 16:18 NIVUK
[18] Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Jesus’ insistence that they were profoundly in the wrong and that neither their outward righteousness nor even their national heritage could save them was an insult to that pride.
Thirdly, God’s proposition. As Isaiah put it:
Isaiah 45:22 NIVUK
[22] ‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
Isaiah 59:20 NIVUK
[20] ‘The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,’ declares the Lord.
And Hosea:
Hosea 14:1-2 NIVUK
[1] Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! [2] Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
And Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 18:30-32 NIVUK
[30] ‘Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall. [31] Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? [32] For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
God’s proposition to them was they they should repent of their sins and be saved.
But they could not do it.
They were too caught up with what they thought was a privileged position that they did not perceive their own sin, and their pride prevented them from acknowledging it and repenting.
And so they ended up in a dreadful position:
Romans 2:5 NIVUK
[5] But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
What made the difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector was not their religiosity or their position in life or their income or their reputation, it was one thing and one thing only:
Their willingness to admit their sin and repent.
That leaves us with a rather stunning, and somewhat jarring, truth. If we strut our way into church, confident that we are right and everyone else is wrong, then actually we are wrong.
Very wrong.
Because we are sinners. Sinners before a just and mighty God.
If we behave like that, then we have one hundred percent missed the point of the Gospel.
But if we approach God realising that we have sinned, that we are utterly unworthy of His grace, seek His forgiveness, ask Him to show us how we should live our lives and obey it, then we will always leave church feeling justified.
But by God. Not by ourselves.
Conclusion
The story is told of a Scottish Presbyterian pastor in a distant rural parish where everyone knew everyone. The pastor was handing out the elements during communion when he noticed that one elderly parishioner was sat at the back of the church, head bowed in deep, silent prayer, and didn’t come forward to take the bread and wine.
Once he had finished serving his small congregation, the pastor took the elements to Wee Annie, the elderly parishioner, and called her name gently, offering her the bread and the wine.
‘Oh, Minister, I can’t take these. You don’t know what I’ve done.’ she told him ruefully.
The pastor smiled, ‘Now, then, Annie, come and take the Lord’s Supper, because this meal’s for sinners such as you and I.’ he told her.
Since hearing that story, those words have stayed with me for a long time. Because, when we know we are in the wrong, we are often scared to come to church – and even more, to take the Lord’s Supper – because we know what we have done. And other people, with their seemingly perfect lives, intimidate us into thinking that we are the only ones who step out of line.
But it isn’t true.
We are all sinners. The only difference between us is how we deal with it.
We can pretend it isn’t true and adopt a haughty attitude like the Pharisees, propping up our fragile egos by pretending that we’re better than everyone else, when really, we are not, or we can humble ourselves like the tax collector, and seek His forgiveness.
Sometimes it feels like we are coming to church with hands that are empty of anything good, and all we have to bring is sorrow at our own sin.
But that is good, because the more empty our hands are, the more room God has to fill.
So don’t be intimidated by the ‘holier-than-thous’.
Because they aren’t.
Come to Jesus as you are, empty hands and all.
Because the moment you repent is the moment everything changes.
For the better.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I realise there is no point pretending with You, because You see through my act. I am a sinner. I need Your grace. I need Your mercy. I need Your forgiveness. I come with empty hands and ask that You will fill them. Show me how You would have me live. I will follow You. Amen.
Questions
What was the fundamental difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector? Who went home justified and why?
What lesson can we learn from this?
Are you willing to admit that you are a sinner and seek the Lord’s forgiveness? Will you do it now?
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