Humble Righteousness

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Early followers of Jesus were overconfident in their own righteousness

Human beings fall short. If people are not self-aware we make a lot more mistakes. Worst of all, humans may not realize they need to turn to God to address moral failures and to begin to grow. Even back in Jesus’ day it made life miserable for those around if a person was full of spiritual pride.

He wasn’t saying all pharisees were like this. But this pharisee had his eyes fixed on all the wrong things. Blinders to his own sin. Bug-eyed at the messy lives of others.

God knows about the Pharisee’s sin, but the Pharisee’s efforts to do better have changed how he evaluates the situation. Now he’s keeping score and its a game he doesn’t want to feel like a failure at. So he starts only counting the things he does well. Starts overlooking his shortcomings. Now he’s way off course and he doesn’t even realize it. Terrible.

It’s easy to get self-righteous

Gravity- at certain moments in life we may become painfully aware of how far we fall short. At other times we may compare ourselves to others and decide we come out on top.

In the church environment people tend to be nicer, cut you a break. Sometimes this hides terrible tendencies for years.

But we might start to think that we who go to church have it all together. We might start looking around at people and turning up our nose. We may notice only what’s missing in their lives.

Thankfully, God doesn’t. He looks at the heart.

Jesus proclaimed the mercy of God on sinners

Jesus is announcing in this passage that the tax collector had more access to the grace of God that day that the pharisee.

God knows about the sin of the tax collector before he ever comes in. He hasn’t forgotten this truth.

But he has a hunch that this is true about everyone. So he humbles himself and puts his trust in the mercy and grace of God and finds all that he needs.

The Good news is it was available for the Pharisee, as the apostle Paul would come to know.

Jesus calls us to live that mercy humbly...

Jesus wants us to live with the humility of the tax-collector and the carefulness of the pharisee. And he wants us to live in such a way that others can see that mercy on display.