The Tax Man and the Pharisee

Text: Psalm 51:1-7, Luke 18:9-14

Pastor Phil Hughes, American Fork Presbyterian Church, Utah

November 10, 2024

Luke tells us exactly for whom this parable is told. He says that Jesus told it “to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.” The people Jesus wanted to hear this parable “were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people.”

Is this parable for me? Is it for you? Are we complacently pleased with ourselves? Do we see someone as less than we are? Do we look down our noses at them?

The parable is about two men. One is a Pharisee. The other is a tax collector. What a contrast these two figures would have been to those listening to this parable. It would be like saying, “Two men went into a church to pray: a pastor and a drug dealer.”

There are assumptions about these two men right away. A Pharisee is religious, devout and a seeker of God. A tax collector is dishonest, not religious and can’t be trusted. These assumptions are what Jesus challenges with his parable.

A word about Pharisees. We often think of them as bad guys in the Bible. Many times they challenge our Lord and give Jesus a hard time. The actual name “Pharisee” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “separatist”. The Pharisees were a separatist group in Israel. In the book of Acts they are referred to as a sect. Pharisees were not priests. They considered the priests and pastors too lenient when it came to God’s Word. Pharisees were lay people and came from various classes and professions of Jewish society. They knew their Scriptures. They were strict in their observance of the religious law. They were admired for this. In their zeal for God’s Word they sometimes looked down upon others and were often full of spiritual pride. They carried a big Bible and didn’t mind using it to hurt those who did not keep God’s Word as strictly as they did.

Tax collectors were on the other end of the social spectrum. They worked for the Roman government and were considered traitors and leeches on society. Tax collectors were extortioners. They would collect taxes for Caesar, and then they would take extra from the people because there were no checks on what they did. The government basically allowed them to do what they wanted as long as Rome got its share.

If you couldn’t pay then tax collectors would find something to take. Maybe your oxen or maybe your land which would be crucial to your livelihood. Maybe your son or daughter as slaves. Tax collectors were bad news. Remember that the religious leaders are astounded and shocked when Jesus eats with tax collectors.

In this parable, the Pharisee goes into the Temple to pray and stands by himself. Perhaps he does this so that he doesn’t become unclean from standing near other people who may not be as religiously clean as he is. Remember that ritual cleanliness was a big deal in first century Judaism. People took ritual baths to purify themselves before coming into the Temple. To come into contact with people who were sick, who were known to be immoral, or who were on the fringes was to become unclean and was believed to affect your standing with God.

The Pharisees prays. And in his prayer he thanks God. He thanks God for himself (the Pharisee). He thanks God that he is not like others who do wretched things. He thanks God that he is not like people who steal, are rough, and who commit adultery. He even thanks God that he is not like the man praying in the temple the same time as he is.

Have we ever looked across the sanctuary and thought to ourself, “I thank God I’m not like him/her”?

Then the Pharisee provides God with a record of his goodness. He reminds God how he fasts and gives his money. Prayer, fasting and giving of money were three major pillars of Jewish spirituality. The Pharisee seems to want to impress God. The Pharisee is the major subject of his own prayer.

Contrast this with the tax collector. By the way where these two men stand is an important detail in Jesus’ parable. That tax collector stands far off. He can’t even look at God. He keeps his distance from God and is thoroughly sorry for his life. All he prays is this, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” How different his prayer is from the prayer of the Pharisee. No self-congratulation. No summary of how good his life is. No sense that God ought to feel honored or obligated to him. It is a prayer of repentance and confession.

God, be merciful to me a sinner.

The Pharisee is at the very heart of the Temple – “the church”, if you would. It is shocking to even see the tax collector in such a place. The Pharisee gives money. The tax collector steals money. The Pharisee is self-righteous and self-promoting. The tax collector can’t even bare to look at God. He has physical signs of sorrow as he beats his chest.

Two men went to the Temple to pray.

Jesus says that it is the tax collector who goes home justified and accepted by God, not the Pharisee.

Did I miss something? This is not what we would expect. It was not what Jesus’ hearers expected. If I pray, if I am religiously devout, if I live a clean and moral life doesn’t that make me good with God? And if I steal, make life miserable for others, and give no thought to spiritual things doesn’t that mean I am on the outs with God?

Depends on whether you end up trusting in yourself or trust in the mercy of God. The tax collector goes home justified with God.

Evelyn Underhill was a British woman, a Christian in the Anglican tradition, and a retreat leader back in the 1950’s and 60’s. In one of her writings she said the tax collector had a desperate sense of his need and imperfection whereas the Pharisee was dressed in his own spiritual self-esteem. She said it was like a card game. I am not much of a card player, but in cards you want to have the best hand. Well, “God plays a game with the soul called ‘the loser wins’; a game in which the one who holds the poorest cards does best. The Pharisee’s consciousness that he had such an excellent hand really prevented him from taking a single trick.”

There is a real danger for those of us who are born into faith. We may have been raised in the church, nurtured in the Christian faith, and kind of always been “good”. The danger for us is that we may not have ever had a sense for our need for God’s mercy. And it can easily lead us to become “Pharisee-like”.

To say, “Well, I’ve never had the need to really be sorrowful because I’ve never really done anything wrong” puts us in a dangerous position. We have estimated ourselves as good, moral, lovely people. We’ve always been on the inside. We can even subtly begin to look down on others.

There are those who were not born into homes where faith was practiced. They never knew what church was. There are those whose backgrounds are full of brokenness and dysfunction. They never were nurtured in a life with Jesus. Life has been challenging.

A few years back, the Director of Children’s Ministry at the church I was pastoring met a little girl who had come into the church building for Girl Scout activities. In a simple conversation with that little girl she discovered that she had literally never heard about Jesus. No clue who he was. Didn’t know the first thing about him.

Some people were born far from anything having to do with God. Some were born into a circle of addiction, harshness, and immorality. Parents drank. People fought. They were exposed to dark and oppressive things. You might say they were born on the “outside” when it came to a relationship with God.

I think about the grace I have been shown. I was born a white male, with excellent health, and into a family that took Christianity seriously. I was raised in good church. I was in a stable and safe neighborhood, and had a vast array of wonderful opportunities.

What if I had been born a white male in the deep south in the 1930’s or 40’s, to a grandfather and father who were Klansmen, where hate and violence was taught? What if I had been nurtured to be cruel, prejudiced, and to burn down people’s houses and churches? Who or what would I be?

There go I except for the grace of God and I mean the grace of God.

Jesus told this parable for those who were confident of their own righteousness.

Remember that it is God’s grace that moves people toward him who have long embraced faith, and it is God’s grace that reaches people who have been outside the faith.

Psalm 51 is David’s cry for God’s mercy after he steals a man’s wife, commits adultery, and then murder’s the husband to protect his reputation and cover up his mess. It is a psalm of deep and heartfelt brokenness. David says to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.”

He understands how he has violated his relationship with God. He makes no excuses or rationalizations. He is not confident in his own righteousness. Contrite means to feel sorrow, regret and remorse. David prays, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

Listen to what God said through the prophet Isaiah, “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”

Listen to Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

The tax collector did not conceal his sin. He had a broken and contrite heart. And he went home good with God.

Jesus is clear to also say the Pharisee did not go home good with God. The Pharisee was living a delusion because he trusted in himself. He is dressed in his own righteousness, not God’s. God save us from leaving church on Sunday justifying ourselves and under the illusion that we are just fine with God in ourselves. God save us from coming to church or doing any other act of faith during the week thinking we do so because we are good. We don’t need to come to the house of the Lord because we have it all together. No, we come because we long for God’s mercy and can’t make it without God.

Jesus gives a tag line to this parable. This is how we finishes it: “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” That’s the lesson. The Pharisee exalted himself and went home under the illusion all was fine with him and God. His prayer was thankfulness that he wasn’t like others. He was humbled.

By the way, let’s be careful and not end up praying, “I thank you, God that I am not like this self-confident, hyper-religious Pharisee. I thank you that I am humble.” We can end up making the same mistake.

The tax collector humbled himself and went home justified. In that way he was exalted. And all he prayed was, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” There were others, not figures in parables but actual people, who cried out to Jesus for mercy. I think of the blind man Bartimaeus who cried out for Jesus to have mercy on him. His prayer is the same as the tax collector.

Praying for mercy generally goes over well with God in the Scriptures. It seems to bring a very favorable response.

There is a very simple prayer called “The Jesus Prayer”. The Jesus Prayer is this, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Say that with me…

It is simple. Not real wordy. But one that recognizes our need. It’s easy to remember. You can say it anywhere and anytime. It is a prayer of humility. Keep it in your back pocket. It has been taught and valued in the Eastern Orthodox tradition of Christianity, rooted in the ancient practices of the desert fathers and mothers. But it is for all believers.

To pray the Jesus Prayer with sincerity one has to commit themselves to Jesus as Lord. That is first word of the prayer. It commits us to Jesus as Lord, not just someone to be admired or valued as a great historical figure.

Frederica Mathewes-Green, a Christian in the Orthodox tradition, says this about The Jesus Prayer, “The effect of the Prayer is to knock you down in your own mind. Then you discover that it is safe to be knocked down, safe to be humble, because God’s love is everywhere, filling the world with his light and life.”

The Pharisee did a lot of wonderfully religious things. He fasted, tithed, prayed. But his religion became disconnected from actual communion with God. It became about himself and not the Lord. The tax collector had nothing to bank on but that God would love someone who had lived the life he had, and would be merciful.

He may have stolen. He may have been dishonest. But a broken and contrite heart and asking for God’s mercy will be honored by our gracious Lord. There are a lot of people who have missed the mark in life in a lot of ways who will go into the kingdom of heaven because they know their need for God’s mercy.

James wrote “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

And if we pray like that tax collector God won’t turn us away. God, be merciful to me.

Praying for God’s mercy can help us with that. And Jesus will always respond to a heartfelt prayer for mercy, even those of us who have wandered to the far lands and fringes – away from God. We too can go home right with the Lord.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Son of God, Savior, have mercy on us. And we praise you that you do and that you will. Keep us from pride, from spiritual complacency. May we all stand at the cross from where your love and goodness shine. Amen.