LUKE 18:9–14
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable
(Luke 18:9).
Jesus continued to interact with the Pharisees, exposing their hypocrisy. This time He used the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. He told this parable to a group of men who were self-righteous and had nothing but disdain for other people.
One of the most contemptible persons in the Israelite community was the publican or tax collector. Not only was he resented simply because he gathered taxes, but he was also considered a traitorous agent of Rome. Additionally, the kind of men who became tax collectors almost invariably were the kind who forced people to pay more than was required in order to feather their own nests.
In Jesus’ parable, the Pharisee looks pretty good on the surface. The Pharisee stood up in the temple and prayed this way: “God, I thank you that I am not like all other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get” (Luke 9:11–12). As Christians we must thank God that we were delivered from impenitence into His kingdom. Still, many Christians today neither fast nor tithe, though Jesus made it plain that we are supposed to do both (Matthew 6:16–18; 23:23).
So, what was wrong with this Pharisee? He trusted in his works and his status instead of trusting in God. His thanks to God were only outward words, because Jesus said he “stood up and prayed to himself,” not to God.
In contrast, the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up, but beat his breast and pleaded for God’s mercy (Luke 18:13). Jesus commented that it was this man who went home justified before God because he cried out in humble dependence on God. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 14).
CORAM DEO
Ecclesiastes 1–3
2 Corinthians 9
Do you sometimes catch yourself merely going through the motions of Christianity without a real sense of humility before God? The cure for this spiritual malady is to spend time in concentrated prayer. If you have lost the fervency of your faith, resolve to go before God for renewal of your heart and revitalization of your faith.
For further study: Ezekiel 11:16–21; tape #B57INT.76/77
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september