Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

The God Who...

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “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!’ 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.”

Luke 18:9-14

For those who follow the ministry of Jesus, there should be a level of surprise from where the opposition comes from.

It almost never comes from Rome

Yes at the end of Jesus life he is crucified by the romans but very reluctantly

It is almost never from the surrounding non Jews

There is an account where Jesus is asked to leave a town by some non jews who where frightened of his power but this proves to be an exception, the surrounding non Jews are often praised by Jesus and see more in the way of miraculous healing

Its never from the “morally inferior.”

This is a surprise as Jesus never removes moral accountability, He never relaxes the rules by which a person gets into heaven. If any thing he dials it up, and yet he is called friend of sinners?

It is the moral elites that seem to oppose Jesus at every turn.

The scribes and the pharisees seem to have the biggest problem with them. Todays Parable seems to be a clue as to why

The thing in your life that will make God’s love most precious in your life is humilty in light of your sin and not comfort in your own moral victories.

The God who Justifies Sinners...

What is a Parisee and What is a Tax Collector

Pharisees

Seperate Ones

Middle Class

Held to a Strict Interpretation of Mosaic Law

Politically Marginalized

Fence around the law

Often Worked with Rome

Beleieved in the Ressurection of the Body

Social Elites

Tax Collectors

Leased the right to collect taxes

Seen and corrupt and complicit

Socailly Ostricised

Who is justified before God

What does it mean to be justified

It means to be right before God and able to be in his presence.

The pharisee imagines himself to be able to stand just before God becasue of what he has done

The 5 I statements

The tax collector understands his only hope is Gods mercy to make his just.

Jesus rejects one and mebraces the other.

The thing in your life that will make God’s love most precious in your life is humilty in light of your sin and not comfort in your own moral victories.

The God who Rejects Sinners

We do not serve the Parable, nor do we serve the love of God by shrinking God’s demand for justice.