(From a message given January 22, 2023 at Beatty Baptist Church)

Do you remember the relief we felt after the last elections were over? All the mud-slinging political ads came to an end, and ever since, we’ve had peace and harmony between people of all political persuasions… well, not really. That would have been nice. But at least we have a reprieve from those very annoying political advertisements.

Most of those ads didn’t serve any purpose except to defame the character of the opposing candidates. Each candidate maligned the others. And if they did’t speak outright lies, they certainly didn’t tell the whole truth: so-and-so raised taxes, so-and-so made cuts to education or law enforcement, …and the context – why they supposedly did these things – was conveniently left out. Mud-slinging ads don’t give you any real information to make an informed decision. Hopefully none of us based who we didn’t vote for on the negative ads.

Then there were the positive ads where each candidate made him or herself look as good as possible. I don’t like any political ads, but I’d much rather watch a positive ad for a candidate I don’t like than a negative ad. The positive ads are much less irritating… more endurable. And if one candidate says he’s for something that I am against, or vice versa, that is information that can help me decide who not to vote for.

Every candidate for public office wants to look good: to appear more trustworthy, more caring, more in tune with the wishes of the people, more qualified and capable than any of the other candidates. Each wants to give their best impression to the voters. This ties in quite well with the parable we’re going to look at.

Let’s begin reading in Luke chapter 18, verse 9.

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

In the first 30 verses of this chapter, Luke gives us various unrelated teachings of Jesus. They aren’t necessarily in chronological or topical order—he just throws them in there. There’s the teaching on persistent prayer, there’s the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector we’re about to look at, there’s a teaching about the necessity of receiving the kingdom of God as a little child, and there’s the account of a rich man seeking to enter the kingdom of heaven. So, unlike many of the other parables Jesus told, there is no larger context. The parable of the Pharisee and tax collector stands on its own.

Verse 9 introduces the parable that follows by giving the reason Jesus told it: Some people trusted in their own righteousness, and they looked down on others. Jesus didn’t say these words Himself: Luke added it as an inside explanation for why He told the parable.

I’ve noticed Jesus didn’t usually directly accuse people of wrongdoing. Instead He told parables using fictitious characters so they would listen to what He had to say before they realized He was talking about them. Imagine if Jesus introduced His parable this way:

“Hey, Joseph! Hey, Saul! Hey, Ashi! Pay attention, I’m telling this parable about you and your nasty, self-righteous attitude…”

That wouldn’t have gone well at all, would it? They would have immediately gone on the defensive. They wouldn’t have heard what Jesus had to say. They wouldn’t have examined their own hearts. By going directly into the parable without an introduction, they would have heard Him with their minds fully engaged. The seed would have been planted without being rejected right away… and maybe it would take root. That’s the way Nathan reached David in 2 Samuel 12:1-15.

After David sinned with Bathsheba and had Urijah murdered to cover it up, God sent Nathan to David to confront him about it. But before doing so, Nathan told David a parable about a rich man killing a poor man’s only beloved lamb to feed a traveler. Without realizing the parable was about him, David condemned the rich man: “the man who has done this is worthy to die!” Then Nathan said he was that man. Because the parable prepared his heart, David immediately humbled himself and admitted his guilt. Jesus told parables for the same reason: to prepare people’s hearts, and the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector was no exception.

The parable begins in verse 10:

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

Ever notice how Jesus liked to use contrasts in His parables? …wheat versus tares, a good son versus a bad son, and a priest and Levite versus a Samaritan? This one is no different. Here we have two men enter the temple to pray who were on opposite ends of the social spectrum: a Pharisee who was respected of the common people, and a tax collector who was greatly despised by those same people.

Those listening to Jesus probably expected the former to be portrayed much more positively than the latter. A Pharisee was considered much closer to God, and his prayers therefore were most likely to reach God, while the tax collector’s prayers would have fallen on deaf ears.

Let’s read what the Pharisee prayed:

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself, God, I thank You that I am not like other men; extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.

Those of us who are familiar with this parable know this man had a pride problem. But the Jews who heard Jesus tell this story had never heard it before. They didn’t understand it the same way we do. They saw Pharisees as righteous, godly people. They saw this as an example of a good prayer prayed by someone who was closer to God than they were.

This man described himself as one to be admired. He was not an extortioner—he didn’t exploit people to take what wasn’t his. He did what was right by others. He didn’t sleep around. He didn’t live a sinful life like the tax collector next to him. And Jesus did not imply that the Pharisee was exaggerating or lying in his prayer. This man lived the way he said he did. Not perfectly, but he was certainly more moral than the tax collector.

The Pharisee was confident of his righteousness. By standing in the open, he was drawing attention to himself. He was exhibiting himself as a prime example of a good and righteous man. Like a politician campaigning before the voters, he was campaigning before God and the other temple worshipers. He didn’t have to directly accuse his opponent, the tax collector, of any particular sin to make himself look good. Everyone knew tax collectors were sinners. To those in the temple, and those listening to Jesus tell the parable, if God were to vote for the better of the two, the Pharisee would be a sure win.

The pride expressed in the Pharisee’s prayer was not unusual or exaggerated. There’s a Jewish saying that a true rabbi ought to thank God every day that he was not created as a Gentile, he was not created as a common Jew, and he was not created a woman. Pharisees were taught to be proud of who they were and to look down on others. They were taught self-righteousness is a good thing and something to be proud of. ¹

Here’s an actual prayer of Rabbi Nehunya who lived in the first and second century:

“I give thanks to Thee, O Lord my God, that Thou has set my portion with those who sit in the House of Learning, and Thou hast not set my portion with those who sit in street corners, for I rise early and they rise early, but I rise early for words of Torah [i.e. the Law] and they rise early for frivolous talk; I labor and they labor, but I labor and receive a reward and they labor and do not receive a reward; I run and they run, but I run to the life of the future world [i.e. eternity] and they run to the pit of destruction.” ²

And here’s what second century Rabbi Simeon, the son of Jochai, said:

“The whole world is not worth thirty righteous persons, such as our father Abraham. If there were only thirty righteous persons in the world, I and my son should make two of them; but if there were but twenty, I and my son would be of the number; and if there were but ten, I and my son would be of the number: and if there were but five, I and my son would be of the five; and if there were but two [righteous persons], I and my son would be those two; and if there were but one, myself should be that one.” ³

So Jesus was not exaggerating the Pharisee’s attitude in His parable. It was normal. Nor was it limited to Pharisees or Jews in general. Tacitus, a famous Roman historian of the first and second century, prayed this:

“I thank you, I am not as the miserable sect called by the infamous name of Christians, odious to all mankind.” ⁴

Pride was very common back then… and it is still so today.

Now let’s look at the tax collector’s prayer. Verse 13:

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner!

A tax collector (or publican in some translations) was someone who examined goods and collected tolls on roads and bridges for the Roman government. These tolls would be collected in Caesarea on the coast, Capernaum to the north, and Jericho in the south. The tax collector would open the boxes and bundles of all who passed by, appraise the value, and collect the tax. As you can imagine, this didn’t endear him to the people. Who wants their personal stuff rummaged through? The government demanded a fixed percentage of the value of all goods in transit, none of which went to the tax collector himself, so he would add an arbitrary amount for his own pay. This led to the people suspecting tax collectors in general of extortion, which was probably true in many cases.

While the Pharisee listed his various good qualities, this tax collector mentioned nothing that might cast him in a favorable light, nor did he mention anything specific to earn him the label ‘sinner.’ However, I think Jesus meant us to see the tax collector as the exact moral opposite of the Pharisee:

• If the Pharisee was not an extortioner, the tax collector probably was.
• If the Pharisee was just, the tax collector probably was unjust.
• If the Pharisee was not an adulterer, the tax collector probably was.

The tax collector didn’t fast twice a week, or tithe on all his possessions (things that went beyond what the Law required). And he probably did many other bad things. While the Pharisee boasted of his achievements, the tax collector was too ashamed to mention the things he did. He could only sorrowfully admit to being a blatant sinner before God.

The Pharisee was well off in his mind, so he didn’t come to God to ask anything of Him—he certainly didn’t beg for mercy. All he did was thank God for how ‘good’ he was. He didn’t beg for mercy from God for he felt he didn’t need it.

The tax collector, on the other hand, was miserable—heavily burdened with guilt and shame. He stood far off because he was confident of his unrighteousness. In the original language, he didn’t just call himself a sinner; he called himself “The Sinner.” Just as the Pharisee presented himself as the prime example of righteousness, the tax collector confessed himself to be the prime example of wickedness. He may have had a lot of material wealth, but he knew he was an utter spiritual pauper before God, so he came to beg for mercy.

The truth is, while the Pharisee was morally superior to the tax collector, he was just as much a sinner before God. He also should have beaten his breast and begged God for mercy. But his self-righteous works blinded him to the true state of his relationship to God. The tax collector had no good works to blind him. He knew he deserved to be punished, and so he begged for mercy solely on the basis of the merciful character of God. Because the sins of tax collectors were more blatant and obvious, even to themselves, perhaps that’s why the gospels give us a couple of examples of repenting tax collectors (Matthew and Zaccheous), but give no examples of repenting Pharisees.

Up to this point, those listening to Jesus probably sided with the Pharisee. He appeared closer to God than they did. And even if they had dared to condemn him, they wouldn’t have done so, because in condemning him, they would condemn themselves, because they thought themselves worse than he was.

But then Jesus gave the surprise ending. Verse 14:

I tell you, this man [that is the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus once told His disciples it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. They replied, “Then who can be saved?” They thought God favored the rich. So Jesus had to correct their misunderstanding of who is acceptable to God. I expect they thought something similar here, that God favored the self-righteous. So Jesus corrected them again, saying the tax collector was justified, not the Pharisee.

What did Jesus mean when He said the tax collector was ‘justified’? It meant God saw him as not guilty of the sins he had committed—not because he didn’t commit them, or didn’t mean to commit them, but because God had blotted them out, freely forgiving all of his offenses.

How or why did God do that? Well, we can eliminate some reasons…

• The tax collector was not justified because he was better than the Pharisee. He wasn’t. The Pharisee was correct in lumping the tax collector with the other sinners. But this tax collector considered himself worse even than what the Pharisee thought of him. He made no defense in his prayer. He did not attempt to discount what the Pharisee thought of him. He called himself “The Sinner,” just as Paul would later call himself the chief of sinners. If he had overheard what the Pharisee prayed, he might have whole-heartedly agreed and added, “I’m much worse than he thinks! I’m the worst of my kind!“
• Also, the tax collector was not justified because he prayed the right prayer, said the correct words, used the proper prayer posture, beat his breast, or prayed to God (instead of himself as the Pharisee did). Even if he shed many tears, that would not have justified him.
• The tax collector also was not justified merely because he admitted his guilt. If this man declared himself to be the worst of sinners, but wasn’t ashamed of his way of life, or had no desire to change or be changed, he would not have been justified.
• Nor was he justified because he was ashamed of his sin. Many people are embarrassed by the wrong they do. They have real regret and remorse, but that does not, in itself, gain them forgiveness from God. Judas felt very sorry for betraying Jesus for forty pieces of silver, but he wasn’t forgiven. ⁵

If the tax collector was not justified for any of these reasons, why did God forgive him? The answer is in what he asked God to do: he asked God to be merciful to him.

Noah Webster defined mercy as “that benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; …“

He also defined mercy as “the act of sparing, or the forbearance of a violent act expected.” That’s the way we understand mercy. One deserves punishment and even expects punishment, and instead receives an undeserved pardon.

But the word ‘merciful’ the tax collector used is special. It’s used only one other time in the Bible. That’s in Hebrews 2:17, where, in speaking of Jesus, it says:

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, in order to make propitiation [or “atonement”] for the sins of the people.

This verse speaks of Jesus’ role as our High Priest before God in offering up Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind. When Jesus died on the cross, He appeased the wrath of God and made forgiveness possible.

The word the tax collector used when he asked God for mercy was the one translated in this verse ‘make propitiation’ or ‘make atonement.’ In other words, the tax collector prayed, “God, make atonement for me, the sinner.” He didn’t ask God to overlook his sin;he asked God to deal with it.

In Old Testament times, if you wanted your sins forgiven, you had to offer a sacrifice. An innocent bull or lamb had to be killed in your place, and its blood poured out on the altar, to be forgiven the sins you had committed. There were sacrifices for sin made throughout the year, but there was one special day in the year called Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, where all the sins of the nation of Israel, even those committed in ignorance, would be forgiven by means of a single sacrifice. On this day alone, the high priest would take the blood of that sacrifice into the innermost part of the temple, the Holy of Holies, and he would sprinkle it on the cover or lid of the Ark of the Covenant.

The Holy of Holies was symbolic of heaven and the cover of the Ark, with its ornamented golden cheribum, a picture of the throne of God surrounded by angels. By sprinkling the blood on the cover of the Ark, the blood was in effect presented before the throne of God so as to make atonement for the sins of the people. God would see the blood… see that justice was served, and He would be propitiated. His wrath would be appeased, and all of Israel’s sins would be forgiven. For this reason, the cover of the Ark of the Covenant was called the mercy-seat. The Greek word for mercy-seat, found in Hebrews 9:5, is closely related to the word the tax collector used.

So the reason the tax collector was justified instead of the Pharisee is because he sought mercy by means of an atoning sacrifice for sin, which is the only way to be justified before God. God cannot merely overlook sin, for that would not be just: sin has to be paid for. Hebrews 9:22 says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins… no forgiveness.

Under the old covenant, blood would have to be sprinkled on the mercy-seat every year on the Day of Atonement. But Jesus fulfilled the meaning of that sacrifice once and for all time when He shed His blood on the cross. There is no longer a need to sacrifice innocent animals to cover sin because Jesus paid it all.

I find it interesting that the One who told this parable is the same One who would later atone for the sins of the world with His own blood. So Jesus had the right to declare the tax collector justified.

Jesus told this parable because some believed they were righteous, and they looked down on others as much worse than themselves. The Pharisee judged the tax collector (and all tax collectors), not just while he was praying, but throughout his life. It was his life’s attitude.

But remember, Jesus told some parables about His listeners without them at first knowing it was about them. This parable was not about the Pharisee in the parable; it was about those who were listening to the parable. Some of them also thought themselves more righteous than others. They were looking down on the tax collector in the story, and maybe even the Pharisee, but they also looked down on real people as well.

And as we read the parable, we must recognize Jesus was talking to and about us as well. If we’re honest, we’ll admit we also judged the characters in the story. We probably looked down on the Pharisee because of his pride. Maybe we thanked God we’re not self-righteous like the Pharisee… we thanked God for our humility.

Jesus told this parable to teach us we don’t have the right to think of ourselves as more righteous in God’s eyes than anyone else, even if we are more moral. The Pharisee was correct in lumping the tax collector with sinners, but he was wrong in not lumping himself in that same category. Righteousness is not about comparing yourself with others but comparing yourself with God, and the Pharisee was just as much a sinner before God as the tax collector. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.“ ⁶

Just as Pharisee needed to humble himself before God, we need to humble ourselves before God as well. I’m talking real humility. We might think we’re humble, but if we look down on others, we’re not. You can’t be humble toward God if you despise others. If you think you don’t despise others, think of the attitude you may have had toward your least favorite political candidates before the election. Trump. Biden. Catherine Cortez Masto. Adam Laxalt. Maybe you were right about them. Maybe they are as bad as you think. Maybe they’re worse. But that doesn’t give you the right to despise them because you’re just as much a sinner as they are.

Those of us who are justified before God are not justified because we’re better than others. Being sinners, we have no good qualities that allow us to successfully ‘candidate’ before God. We can’t impress Him. The only way any of us can be justified before God, to be declared righteous, is to own our own guilt, and plead for mercy, as the tax collector did, on the basis of an atoning sacrifice: the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Both the Pharisee and the tax collector likely left the temple without knowing the state of their soul. But you can know. This parable contains the Bible’s prime example of the sinner’s prayer: “God, be merciful to me, the sinner,” or as the tax collector really asked, “God, make atonement for me, the sinner.”

God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the atoning sacrifice for your sin. That sacrifice has been completed. If you want to be justified before God, if you want all of your sins forgiven, all you have to do put your trust in Jesus Christ and what He did to save you. Like the tax collector, humbly plead: “God, may Jesus’ blood be the atonement for me, the sinner.” Then you will go away justified, no matter how bad you’ve been. You have no excuse to not plead for mercy, for the worst of sinners has been justified this way. They’ve come away with a righteousness superior to that of the Pharisees. They came away with Jesus’ own righteousness. Trust in Jesus today and you will find mercy.