In Luke 18:10-13, Jesus shares the following story:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
If you are unfamiliar with this type of story, it is referred to as a “parable.” You can somewhat think of a parable as a sort of “spiritual fable,” so to speak, in the sense that the story is not meant for entertainment, nor is it a factual anecdote of something that Jesus really saw. It is a story meant for demonstrative and teaching purposes. In the context, Luke tells us that this parable was told “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (vs. 9). First-century Pharisees were notorious for this type of attitude, so much so that people with such an attitude of hypocrisy, virtue signaling, and moral condescension are referred to at times as “pharisaical.”
This is precisely why Jesus appears to use them as an example in His parable. Jesus was keenly aware of people’s hearts, and we know that as God, Jesus could read people’s hearts (Luke 16:15). On the one hand, I am sure many of us have known people where we thought they were a good person, maybe we even looked to them as a role model, and then something happened that made it clear that their heart and mind was corrupt and much different than we would have suspected.
On the other hand, maybe you have had the experience where you assumed the worst about someone, but then they turned out to be a really great person. I will be the first to admit I have had that experience. This is the precise phenomena Jesus is expressing in His parable. See, while Pharisees were famous for being highly educated Jewish teachers and religious figures, tax collectors were known essentially as traitors of the Jewish people. At the time, the Roman Empire was occupying Jerusalem, and tax collectors had the job, as the name indicates, of collecting taxes from the citizens for the Roman Empire. As you can imagine, these taxes were often steep, unfair, and the punishment for not giving Rome their money would be harsh, making these tax collectors even less popular than the modern IRS! They were viewed with great contempt, essentially as sellouts working for the enemy. However, go back and read the parable itself again. Between these two men, whose attitude do you think is more Christlike: the Pharisee or the Tax Collector? More simply, which man’s attitude is more palatable? I would imagine many of us have great distaste for outspoken arrogance like that of the Pharisee. Maybe we find it difficult to even fathom going to God in prayer and being so bold as to talk about our own righteousness, while talking to The Eternally Righteous One. The two men in this parable are not only contrasted by their attitudes but by their social standing. They are not only juxtaposed to each other but to themselves—the Pharisee, an outwardly religious man who ironically exalts himself before God, and the tax collector, a likely wealthy and somewhat powerful man who begs God for mercy. It is because of this Jesus explains the meaning of the parable by simply saying, “I tell you, [the tax collector] went down to his house justified, rather than the [Pharisee]. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus makes it clear in this parable that God is the one who exalts, not us. We must always be careful and cautious that we do not get to the point that the Pharisee reached where we are so overzealous about our holiness that we are boastful. On the other hand, may we look at God with the eyes of the tax collector and allow ourselves to be humbled by His holiness and overwhelmed by His mercy. We need not proclaim to God all that we have done, as the Pharisee does; He already knows. The only appropriate response to being in front of The Almighty I Am is to fall on our faces and plead with Him to bless us. He assures us that if we do this, He will exalt us well beyond any social status, career, or financial gain this world can provide us.
We were dead in our sins. God is unlimited in His mercy. Keeping that in perspective is of the utmost importance.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11)
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