This week’s parable is about dedicated kingdom living involving prayer that confesses one’s sin and seeks God for forgiveness, not prayer that praises self, and excludes others. We can find this week’s parable in Luke 18:1 – 14.
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 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.’
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.’
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 Pharisee did not go to the temple to pray to God but to announce to all within earshot how good he was. He was confident of his own righteousness (Verse 9). This kind of self-righteousness is dangerous. It leads to pride, causes a person to feel better than others and even come to despise them, and prevents him from learning anything from God.
In his prayer the Pharisee praises himself on two principle parts of godliness: freedom from evil and the doing of good. He brags, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” The phrase “other men” refers to all outside himself, without exception, except for other Pharisees. The Pharisees were characterized by their name as the “separated” from other men, and also “divided” from the unclean men of their own nation. Can you see why Jesus singled out the Pharisees so often in his debates and teachings?
An entirely different kind of prayer came from the tax collector’s lips. It was a prayer of humility, dependence and desperation. The Pharisee prayer to God; the tax collector looked to the floor but raised his voice to heaven. The Pharisee was proud and confident; the tax collector grieved over his own condition as a sinner. The Pharisee described his righteousness; the tax collector begged for mercy to escape judgement his sin deserved.
But we must be careful in interpreting this parable. Just because one Pharisee had this arrogant attitude does not mean that all Pharisees did. Likewise, the humility of this one tax collector was certainly not typical of all tax collectors. Although we think well of the tax collector in this parable, we should bear in mind that it is doubtful that his was a prayer of repentance, for there is no suggestion that he was turning away from his actual way of life. Yet it is precisely this that gives the parable its starkness: the tax collector while remaining a sinner, was actually more open to God than was the Pharisee. As in Luke 13:2-4, the startling contrast is made without either denying entirely the prayer of the Pharisee or approving completely of the lifestyle of the tax collector.
Think of what separates modern-day Pharisees from others – power, position, money, arrogance, education, accomplishment, dress? It’s probably some combination of these factors, but it’s dangerous for us to assume (or judge) that everyone who has these qualities is a modern-day Pharisee. It’s definitely true that power and position can corrupt a person but not that they definitely will. We must be very careful before we leap to conclusions in judging other people.
The two worshipers in this parable were taken respectively from the most distinguished and the most despised (or hated) classes of society. Tax collectors were not poor, they were often greedy Jews working for the Roman government. They generally collected more tax than Rome required and kept the difference; as such they were guilty of much oppression and extortion, especially of poor people. But some tax collectors were probably honest and some even heeded Christ’s call to repentance such as Matthew and Zaccheus.
This sinful tax collector was justified before God. He was righteous. He was clean. He was prepared for temple worship. His sins were forgiven. The Pharisee left the temple confident he had fulfilled his religious duty but still bearing his own guilt and sins. He had not prayed, because he never addressed God. He was not forgiven, since he never confessed his sins. He was not clean and qualified for worship, because he remained separated from God by his unconfessed sin. Jesus put it this way: praise yourself, God will humble you; humble yourself, and God will praise and honor you.