The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Luke 18:9-14

Luke 18:9–14 NKJV

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with 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.’ 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!’ I tell you, this man 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 had just finished His parable of the unjust judge and the persistent woman. But now He turns to address a theme He brings up frequently. Many of the parables in Luke are centered around the contrast between the person of Jesus and the Pharisees in respect to how to deal with sinners. We see Jesus going to a feast of tax collectors while the Pharisees stood without and would later ask the disciples why Jesus actually ate with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus talks in an open comparison saying that there is more joy in Heaven over a sinner that repenteth. More joy than what? –Anything you can compare it to. Jesus shows compassion to a sinner woman who came to dinner at Simon the Pharisees’ house. The three parables in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son are spoken in relation to the Pharisees complaint that “Jesus receives sinners and eats with them.” The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican fits in this stream of thought.

The parable presents two people coming to the Temple to pray. The first was a Pharisee, a small but influential group in Judaism. The name of this group comes from a Persian word “to separate.” This is demonstrated in the fact that the publican stood off by himself. He was too good to pray with ordinary people, especially in the presence of this tax-collector who also came to pray. In the eyes of the Pharisees, the tax collectors belonged in the lowest caste with the prostitutes. They were prideful of their own accomplishments. They felt themselves as the true believers and keepers of the Law of Moses. Everyone else was at least suspect.

When we look at the prayer this man made, all of this pride comes out. He gives thanks first for what he is not. He is thankful that he is not a cheat and a swindler. He was not an adulterer. Looking down in contempt at the tax collector who was also praying, he is most thankful that he was not that wretch. This is a typical Pharisaic prayer other than they also included thanks that they were not born a woman.

The other man stood and looked down at himself. It does not say that he noticed the pharisee praying or anyone else. He knew what he truly was. Tax collectors were know to be swindlers and cheats. They were known to shake down extra money from those they had been appointed to collect taxes from. Even discounting the bias that common citizens had toward tax collectors and allowing that many were not as bad as their reputation, they were bad enough. They were known for lavish parties which in some cases included prostitutes. This tax collector, if he participated in this revelry was guilty of adultery also. He was everything that the Pharisee gave thanks that he wasn’t.

The Pharisee then thanked God for his positive attributes. He had these things for his badge of election. He fasted twice a week and tithed everything he made. And here he way praying. He was fulfilling what is known as the “three pillars of Judaism.” A person who practiced these things must be elect was the thought.

The tax collector’s prayer did not have the slightest hint of self-adulation. He had nothing to offer at all. The only think he can confess is that he is a sinner. All he could do is beat his breasts in grief and cry out for mercy. It is interesting that instead of the common word for mercy which is “eleos” in Greek, he uses the technical term “hilasmos” which means “to propitiate.” This is the language of sacrifice, a sacrifice to turn God’s wrath away from him to a sacrificial victim. What he needed was an atonement. But it does not say that he brought a lamb for that offering. We know as Christians that this was only a symbol pointing to the sacrifice of Christ. God in the Old Testament showed some weariness to animal sacrifices because they we not offered with a repentant and faithful heart. This tax collector showed exactly the contrite heart God wished from those who came to worship. This condition of the heart was far more pleasing to God than outward ritual. It was a sweet-smelling offering from the heart and pleasing in His eyes. Jesus directly says that it is the tax-collector and not the Pharisee who returned home justified. “Justified” in the Greek is in the perfect tense which indicates that this was a lasting justification unlike the temporary relief offered by sin offerings at the altar which had to be repeated. It also implies that this man’s life was changed forever. The Pharisee, on the other hand, was not changed at all.

We should look into the Pharisee. It is not enough to look at the tax collector. Yhe implication of this parable is that the Pharisees were not justified. They were not right with God. They lifted themselves up rather than God. This makes them guilty of stealing glory from God. In other words, they were cheats and swindlers. They were guilty of spiritual adultery. In other words, they were guilty of everything the tax collector was accused of. Yet they felt no need to beat their breasts and cry for mercy. There is no indication that the Pharisee brought a sin offering to the Temple. After all, he did not feel he needed it. So blind is self-righteousness. They thought themselves virtuous. As Tucker Carlson notes: “The sin is the virtue.” They transferred their own sin upon the tax collectors and prostitutes rather than upon God’s scapegoat, Jesus. One cannot be justified in this matter at all. In fact, their sin was actually worse than the tax collector because they did the same things as the tax collector but did not repent and ask for mercy. Those who do not cry out for mercy and forgiveness will not find either.

The parable, which is an illustration, illuminates the truth that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves shall be exalted. This is God's assessment of the matter, and this is what He will do.

So what does this mean for us. Are there Pharisees in the church? Or if we look deeply and prayerfully in our hearts, are WE Pharisees? Although we might not be so crass as this Pharisee in proclaiming his own goodness, do we do this in more subtle ways. Do we gossip about those caught in sin in the church and thank ourselves that we are not like them? We are warned in Scripture to consider that we are just as subject to these temptations. Instead we are told to have compassion on them. We are to go secretly to our brother to try and reconcile him. If that does not work, then two or three. The bringing of an offender before the body is to be a last resort, and even this judgment must be restorative in nature, to get the sinner to beat his breasts and call out for mercy.

A more subtle form of hypocrisy which comes from Satan himself who deceived Eve by his subtlety is when we go through the form of the tax collector’s prayer without the truly contrite spirit the prayer was offered in. We thoughtlessly proclaim that we are sinners saved by grace. We confess that we are sinners, that is for sure. We presume that because we confess this wit our lips that we shall find mercy. But unlike the tax collector who was justified and whose life was forever changed, we are not. We quickly return to a life of vomit and the pig wallow. In the United Methodist Church, where I currently serve as a pastor, we have a prayer of confession before Holy Communion in our hymnal. We regularly confess: “We have not loved you with our whole heart.” We then confess all the ways we have failed to be obedient whether as individuals or a church. We finish with a petition to be freed for joyful obedience through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a well-constructed prayer. There is only one problem. The next time we come together for communion, we will make exactly the same confession. In other words, we have not been changed at all.

It is this tendency to trivialize grace which is the basis of our salvation. Instead of heartless sacrifices, we offer heartless prayers and confessions. We have justification in our forms of worship but not our hearts. We must get back to the realization of the great offense of our sins. It is only then that we can hope to find grace and help in the time of need. It is only when the Holy Spirit examines our hearts and brings out true sin to light that we will be driven to the altar in repentance. We, too, need to be justified in the way the tax collector was. We in ourselves might look better than him, but we are just as needy as he was. O to have the Spirit work again in our church, examining our hearts!

One more thing needs be mentioned. Jesus did not separate Himself from sinners, He did not stand afar off from them. The only Man who confess Himself faultlessly before the Father was not content to pray standing remotely from the sinners. He ate and drank with them to the point he was falsely slandered as a glutton and winebibber. What kind of church would we be if we interacted more with sinners than simply entombing ourselves in the four walls of our churches? A heart that is set free is set on freeing the hearts of others. And this testimony cannot be rote. It has to be ore than sharing the four spiritual laws. The love God has must naturally reside in our hearts. The true relief that we have escaped hellfire must be communicated to others in the hope that the hearers would wish to escape this fate. We need to be permanently changed to bring change.