Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

What is the appropriate way to approach God in prayer?

Is there a certain stance? Eyes down? Hands clasped?

Are these external circumstances what determines an effective prayer?

Or is it something more? Does God listen to us more when we are more faithful in practicing our religion? Maybe yes, maybe no.

The reality is that the willingness of God to hear our prayer is dependent on a much deeper factor.

This is what brings us to our passage today, Jesus on teaching about prayer will accomplish a few different things.

He will point out the prayer of a hypocrite.

He will show the nature of true prayer that God hears.

Finally, in teaching about humility in prayer, Jesus also reveals how only those who have been truly humbled will receive mercy.

Luke 18:9-14

V. 9  He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt

The audience Jesus is speaking to here is very clear.

He is speaking to a bunch of self-righteous people.

In order to communicate to them, he is going to use an example that involves a Pharisee and one of the most hated members of their society.

V.10 Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

From the outset of the story, Jesus’s listeners would have been outraged and taken aback.

First, Tax Collectors were the scum of the earth in the Jewish society, as they were working for the oppressive Romans. These were not men who normally pray.

Pharisees were seen as the upstanding moral and religious leaders of the people.

To see both of these men praying in the same place would have been offensive to these men.

V.11-12 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.’

When we first read this, we might find it impressive.

He goes well beyond the expectations of the law, even seeming to thank God that he is different.

But under further inspection we see that there is a very different person being praised here.

Where in this prayer is their any true recognition for God?

There is no request given to God, instead this Pharisee just describes all of the good things he has done. He even goes so far to belittle the tax collector.

The prayer is praising the “I.”

This Pharisee was making the mistake that so many make. He looked at the good deeds that he did as the things that made him righteous.

For this he was mistaken. He thought his practices made him right, but this prayer just shows how blind he was to who he truly was.

For God has a deeper expectation.

V. 13 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!’

We now come to the tax collector, and a prayer that is completely different in its goal and origin.

First, we look at the position he is praying from.

This man is beaten down with guilt, not wanting to come close to God’s presence.

He is so overcome with his sin that he will not lift up his eyes, and as he beats on his chest, he asks God for mercy.

The humility in this man is almost palpable, but make no mistake, he is not one to be sympathetic for.

Tax collectors were very sinful men. They often cheated others out of extra money, and were basically a poison to society.

He pleads for mercy because he knows how wretched he is.

This wretched outcast, likely prominent in authority, is brought to his knees because of his sin, and Jesus offers an explanation of the situation that would have been greatly surprising to his listeners.

V. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus says that the man who came in humility is the one who would leave the temple justified.

It was the “scumbag” who received God’s mercy, for to receive mercy we must first understand how short we fall of God’s glory.

Return for a moment to the Pharisee:

Never unjust?

Never lustful?

Never sinning?

His mindset of righteousness was that of him living good enough to be made right with God, but anyone who knows their heart knows we are all broken.

This is what makes the tax collector shine in this situation. He completely recognizes his brokenness.

So to first be saved, there has to be a humble acceptance of your sin and offense to God.

Paired with this we also see the type of prayer God answers.

God listens and comes to the aid of the humble.

In your prayer when was the last time you came to God in true humility, remembering what He has done?

If you have not humbled yourself and repented of the your sin, God will not come to your aid.

This is the mistake that people make who think that they can earn God’s favor. Favor is not earned, it is granted to a humble heart.

So which of these men do you relate to?

Are you the boastful man who puts on a face of religion, thinking your doing good enough?

Or are you a humbled sinner who recognizes your unworthiness?

Your answer will determine your prayer life, for the humbled sinner will come with desperation. They will come with nothing to lean on but the goodness of our God.

Discussion Questions:

What does God care about more, outward obedience or a humbled heart?

How can we model the tax collectors way of praying?

Jesus says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” What does He mean by this, and how can it impact how we live?