Sermon Tone Analysis

Gracious Discomfort

For the last few weeks you’ve been studying through a series of parables.

Those are always fun!

As you know, a parable is a story that illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson.

Often, many of the characters in a parable mean something.

(bird, house, water, seed, etc…, and sometimes the details of the parable… are just details..... Context is king here.

We have to read each parable in the context in which it was given.... What we can’t do is take one parable and use it as some kind of Rosetta Stone and try to make the rules and imagery of that parable apply to every other biblical event.

If you do that, you’ll come up with some pretty strange interpretations.... and conclusions that could potentially lead you into error.

So, as you study through the parables, be careful.

A good system of Bible study (or hermeneutic) is super important here.

We are going to be looking at a parable in the Gospel of Luke today.

(turn with me)

A big portion of the book is devoted to telling about Jesus’ Kingdom Focused Journey to Jerusalem which takes place from Luke 9:51 through 19:27.

As you read you’ll notice that this Messianic journey to Jerusalem eventually results in the Triumphal entry… and eventually Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection!

As we look at out text for today, Luke 18:9-14, Jesus is nearing the end of his journey to Jerusalem.

Up to this point in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has been teaching in parables, performing miracles, has been questioned by the disciples, the crowd and the Pharisees.

The closer Jesus gets to Jerusalem, the more his teachings and parables seem to focus on the Kingdom and the reign of Christ.

Why did Jesus begin to speak in parables?

As the crowds gathered and began to follow Jesus, He began to teach in parables.

In Luke 8:9-10, Jesus tells the disciples that Parables were meant to help those who were truly seeking truth to be motivated to ask for more understanding… and those who were just there for the wrong reasons (free meal, miracles…) would not understand… — In other words, Parables were meant to help those who were truly seeking… find the truth.

—

We live in the 21st century… so often our default is to read Scripture through the framework of a 21st century context.

We need to remember that while the Bible is timeless and is true for everyone living in every time in every place, it was originally written to a specific people living in a specific time and place.

So, let’s do our best to remove any pre-understanding about this familiar passage.

Let’s do our best to leave behind any 21st century assumptions and put on our 1st century Jewish reading glasses.

If we can do this then we have a better chance of being impacted by the words of Jesus in a similar way as the original audience.

Here’s a bit of info to add to your 1st century Jewish worldview.

To the first century Jew, the Pharisee is the “good guy” and the tax collector is the “bad guy”.

In this context, people would look at the Pharisee with positive expectation… and the tax collector with negative.... He’s the crook that steals all their money and gives it to Rome!

Right out of the gate, Luke tells us why Jesus tells this parable.

So, we don’t have to guess too much that this parable has to do with self-righteousness and treating others with contempt.

Just like the parable in 18:1-8, this parable deals with prayer.

While the parable of the persistent widow reveals what we believe is true about God (We can have confidence that God is gracious and caring), the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector (18:9-14) reveal what we believe is true about ourselves.

During our study this morning, I think you’ll see this truth illustrated:

How we pray reveals what we are trusting in as the source of our righteousness.

To organize our study today we’ll start by looking at the two “pray-ers”.

Then we’ll talk about the two prayers that were offered.

Then we’ll finish up by seeing how we can apply the principles/ truths to our lives.

Luke 18:10 introduces us to the two pray-ers.

I. Two Pray-ers

There is a clear contrast here between these two men.

The Pharisee: (cultural “good guy”) This group of people had earned their reputation as being “a body of Jews known for surpassing the others in the observance of piety and exact interpretation of the law”.

(Josephus) They were a highly esteemed group in Jewish society.

They were considered a loyal part of society… that would never sell out their own people for personal gain (I think Jesus would disagree).

The Pharisees loved the Law and would go out of their way to attempt to uphold it.

To the Jewish audience, it would have been perfectly normal.... expected for the Pharisee to go to the temple to pray.

Nothing out of the ordinary....

The Tax Collector: (cultural “bad guy”) To the 1st century Jew, the tax collectors were the scum of the earth.

Rome forced their conquered people to pay taxes.

Rome didn’t collect these taxes directly, no they subbed it out.

They hired private contractors… who then hired local Jewish people to do their dirty work.

The only pay that the Jew would receive would be whatever else they could get/ extort from their fellow Jews.

No wonder people hated the tax collectors.

They were considered political and spiritual traitors.

They were outcasts.... in today’s world they would be looked at as drug dealers and pimps.

Making a living by preying on and stealing from others.

This parable as well as several others in Luke are intentionally giving us (the readers) contrasts (great reversals) with which we have to wrestle.

This is one of them.

The Pharisee comes in to pray.... (cue the hero music .... women are swooning.... men are admiring…)

The tax-collector is noticed… (villain music plays.... people are spitting.... gossiping.... and every other thing that “good christian people never do in church”).

Why the contrast?

To make an impact in our minds and hearts.

We notice when things seem like they should go one way… but then go a different way.

(like watching Star Wars for the first time in episode order .... “I can’t believe that Anakin would turn evil.... I’m shocked!)

A more important reason for the contrast is to help the original audience (and us) understand that:

Cultural expectations are often opposite of Biblical Truth.

What cultural expectations are being promoted today?

abortion,

same-sex marriage,

and more...

Just because something is accepted by the culture, does not mean that it is accepted by God.

Make sure that God’s Word is the source of truth from which you are drawing.... not social media, the news…

So far, we’ve been introduced to the two Pray-ers.

The question you need to be asking yourself at this point is this: Which one of these characters represents me?

Which one of these characters do I live my life like?

The Pharisee or the Tax-Collector?

While you think about that, let’s look at the Two Prayers.

II.

Two Prayers

There were two times of day (9am and 3pm - Acts.

3:1) when the temple would have been packed with people for a time of public prayer.

These were the two times of day that the “whole offering” happened.

(Exodus 29:38-42, Numbers 28:2-8).

People would come to corporately worship the Lord in prayer while the incense was burned… and at the end the priest would give a benediction.

Enter the Pharisee...

Ok… the Pharisees comes into a packed temple and his prayer begins as expected.

He thanks God for how God has kept him from various sins.

That’s appropriate.

We should be thankful to God for helping us to avoid serious sin.

Remember, to the Jewish audience even the comment that seems kind of harsh… “even like this tax collector”…seems appropriate.

‘God, thank you for protecting me from falling into the kinds of sin that this man has gotten involved in’.

While we’re not Pharisees, we’ve probably all prayed like this.

“God, thank you so much that I haven’t gone down the road that so many other people have gone down… you’ve kept me from dishonest business practices, immorality.... and living like all those people in the gutter that don’t go to church… and don’t know you!”

We should be thankful for God’s protection.... but doesn’t something seem off to you when you read this?

Let’s observe a few things about the Pharisee’s prayer:

Where is the Pharisee located when he prays?

The text says that standing by himself, he prays.

In contrast to verse 13 (standing far off), the Pharisee seems to be located in the front of the Court of Israel.

The Pharisee came to the temple at the exact hour of prayer (when he knew the house would have been packed), entered the area where everyone was, and approached the altar of burnt offering.

Then he stood tall in front of everyone so that everyone could see him and how impressive he was.

Basically he is standing up front so everyone can see him.