Tag: Pharisee and Tax Collector

March 2nd 2025: John Scanlon

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Luke 18:1-14

This parable touched me. As Jesus walked through the countryside, He often spoke to people in parables, word pictures.

In verse 9 Jesus warns us. This parable is aimed at people who trust in themselves. The Pharisees were very self-righteous people who distinguishing tassels on their robes, had thousands of rules and were very self-righteous in their ways. Self-righteousness was not just found in the Pharisees but also in many Christians who trust in themselves.

What is self-righteousness? It is something we all know well, a tendency to have too high an opinion of ourselves. The more we think about it, the more we realise that that thought is sin. Sin runs through the whole human race. We all have a desire to flatter ourselves, to look at ourselves in a good light. We see ourselves in a wonderful light, we think God sees us in the same way. Self-righteousness is another word for pride, for selfishness. It is a sin the Lord Jesus Christ warns us about in this parable. We cannot hide this sin from God, although we may hide it from one another. The Lord Jesus Christ came among us and took on the form of a servant. He had no form of flattery. His whole nature was flawless and pure, completely without self-centeredness. He warned us about this sin of self-importance.

In verses 10-12 Jesus condemns the Pharisee’s prayer. Here, two men are praying in a holy place. One is great at praying, very respectable, a model man. He is every man’s idea of what it means to be religious, a man of God. He is standing in a temple where everyone can see him. The prayer is not heard by God. Jews, when they pray, would look at the sky, often raising their hands. They may look to where they think God is. But this Pharisee’s prayer is nothing more than a recitation. You can almost hear the pomp. Five times he refers to ‘I.’ Other people are listening but God is not hearing his prayer. Why not? He has one glaring fault – he has no sense of sin (v11). Never make the mistake of comparing yourself to other people. The Pharisee has no sense of need, no profession of guilt, no sense of shame, no confession of sin. There is no cry for mercy, asking for grace or salvation. He is not standing there knowing that atonement has been made.

If this is the only kind of prayer you can offer, God will have no time for you. Jesus is contradicting every idea of religion. You cannot come to God with a long list of your own merits. This Pharisee is proud of his achievements and has a very low opinion of the tax collector. If you are pleased with yourself you are comparing yourself with others.

Jesus is saying, ‘Can you see what is missing in your life – a sense of God?’ We all fall short of the glory of God in every way. What Jesus does is condemn the Pharisee’s prayer and warns us, but he approves the prayer of the tax collector.

The tax collector would not even raise his eyes to heaven. Here is a man who is not good enough yet he goes home justified, declared righteous, just as if he had never sinned. This man prays, walks out of the temple and Jesus declares him righteous. He commends him to God. The prayer in verse 13 shows how to get right with God.

The prayer of the tax collector is quite short. He asked for himself, praying in a personal way. Then he asks formerly, afar off, when no one can see. He is so ashamed of himself. He asks for mercy. God is perfectly righteousness in punishing the sinner. God stands over him with a sword of righteous anger and this man asks for mercy. He asks for forgiveness because of a sacrifice. That is precisely how sinners come to God. He is beating his breast as he speaks. He is moved in the Spirit and he’s crushed. He sees God, he sees his sin and his only hope is God’s atoning grace and sacrifice. If only the world could learn from this lesson. There is no hope for anyone until they feel the weight of their sins, to know they are lost. Fall on the mercy of God. This is a person who was eternally justified. Salvation is of God alone. It is not of ourselves. Jesus warns us. He condemns the Pharisee’s prayer and approves the tax collector’s prayer. But He doesn’t end there.

In verse 14 we see Jesus underlines a vital living principle. This is the way of God, of the gospel. God deals with us on the principle of verse 14. On thar final day we will see that principle vindicated. Jesus came to earth, took on the form of a lowly servant. He was a sacrifice for the sins of man. If you want the mercy of God for yourself you must humble yourselves, pray and call out for mercy and forgiveness. Jesus has paid the price.

October 20th 2024: Gareth Edwards

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Luke 18:9-14 The Pharisee and the Tax Collector – which are you?

I want to take you back to school and exams. We looked forward to exam time! Probably not! A favourite way of phrasing a question was ‘compare and contrast.’ That is exactly what Jesus does in this parable; He compares and contrasts a Pharisee and a tax collector. Although it is a parable, it may be based on a real event. Whether it really happened or was a story, we know it is realistic. We have written examples of the prayers of some Pharisees which bear a remarkable resemblance to this Pharisee’s prayer. This is very realistic.

We see two men in the same place – the temple. They are both doing the same thing – praying. But that is as far as the similarity goes. These two men are poles apart. Which of these two men are we like? We may want to say we are not one or the other. But the truth is everyone of us is either one or the other.

First, let us look at the Pharisee. He is full of himself. Standing was a normal posture for prayer. But what is abnormal is the nature of this man’s prayer. He addresses God and initially refers to the Lord. But subsequently, he never refers to the Lord again. The Pharisee is talking to himself about himself. He is congratulating himself. There is no confession of sin, of seeking forgiveness. He stands in the presence of a holy God yet feels no sense of guilt. When Isaiah is in the temple and God’s presence is so real, Isaiah can only confess he is a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:1-5). In Luke 5:8 Simon Peter fell to his knees saying, ““Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” In the presence of divine power, Peter can only humbly bow, acknowledging his sin.

This Pharisee, in his pride, praises himself for avoiding the vices so prevalent in others. Then he parades how devoted to his religion he is. The Old Testament only required fasting for one day a year, on the day of Atonement. But the Pharisee voluntarily fasted twice a week (Monday and Thursday). The law required certain crops to be tithed (Deuteronomy 14:22). But the Pharisees went further, even tithing the herbs from the garden. This went way beyond what was required and expected, in order to establish their righteousness and to parade their religious devotion. What the Pharisees said was no doubt true, but he does not see the sin in his heart undoes all his deeds. The Pharisee despises the tax collector and many others.

Pride is always a sin and a mistake. It is the deadliest of sins. We live in an age when we are told to love ourselves, we are not to be down on ourselves. That means we are encouraged to compare ourselves favourably to others. That increases our pride. There can be no pride when we compare ourselves to the righteousness of God. When we compare ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, to His perfect, sinless life, there can be no pride. There can be no pride in a Christian.

The deadliest form of pride is religious pride. It is the most deceptive lie. It is the cause of many being condemned to eternal damnation in hell. It is the most dangerous thing in the world to think we are acceptable to God because we go to church, we pray, read the bible, do good works and serve him. None of these compensate for the overwhelming sinfulness of our lives. We can never earn our salvation. Being proud is natural, the normal inclination of our hearts.

Let us consider the tax collector. He is also full, but not full of himself – he is full of repentance. This man knows and feels his sin. Whereas the Pharisee despised others, the tax collector despised himself and acknowledged he is a sinner. Tax collectors with doubly hated: They were regarded as collaborators with the Roman authority, and also regarded as thieves. Although despised by others as a traitor, none despised this man more than himself. He is ashamed of himself.

We see in the tax collector three things:

Firstly, He stands at a distance. He goes to the far corner of the temple, far away from the holy of holies, to pray. He does not come close to the presence of God. Secondly, he does not even lift up his eyes to heaven. Thirdly, he continually beats his chest as a demonstration of remorse for his sin. He knows he can do nothing other than hope that God would have pity on him, a sinner, “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!’”(v.13).

To be merciful is to be propitiated. It’s not a word that is familiar to people today. It is a Bible word which means to remove wrath, for god’s anger to be redirected away onto another. The tax collector knows he cannot escape God’s wrath. He can only hope God will lovingly turn His wrath away from him. He knows he does not deserve mercy but he asks for it anyway.

Have you felt the weight of your sin, the enormity of your rebellion against God? You must come under the conviction of your sin, acknowledge your sin. In Matthew chapter 5 Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This does not mean poor in material terms – blessed are those who know they are spiritually bankrupt before God. Jesus goes on to say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” This refers to those who mourn deeply for their sin. They know the depths of the corruption that is theirs and they grieve how they have offended a holy God.

We must accept we are Pharisees by nature and justly the object of God’s wrath, that we are the tax collectors and sinners by nature and justly deserve God’s wrath, before we can even begin to hope that He will have mercy on us. We can have mercy because He showed no mercy to His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He died in our place on the cross bearing the responsibility for our sin.

Jesus propitiated God’s wrath at Calvary. God’s just wrath against my sin was mercifully turned away from me and consumed Jesus in my place. My sin was paid in full at the Saviour’s death. God’s wrath burnt itself out on Jesus as He was condemned in my place. Our only hope of mercy is found in repenting of our sin and trusting in Jesus Christ alone. There can be no pride, only brokenness.

Jesus said it is the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who returns home from the temple justified – acquitted of all his sin, reckoned to be righteous. He is penitent therefore he is justified. He alone of the two is viewed as if he had never sinned at all. The Pharisee saw himself as being righteous but in fact was full of sinful pride, whilst the tax collector knew he was full of sin but he is declared righteous.

Here is the greatest contrast of all between the two men, a turning of the tables. The proud Pharisee is humbled whilst the humbled tax collector is exalted. That is God’s way. In James 4:6 we read, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” God confounds human expectation. It is not the self-confident religious who is saved but the penitent sinner.

It is only safe for you and I to be on our knees, lest the wind of God’s wrath should blow us to eternal damnation. We have to stay on our knees, not just in prayer, but constantly remind ourselves, ‘on your knees.’

Each of us needs to be justified, to be declared righteous. This is only possible if we are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. There is no other way to know forgiveness of sin except to take Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Will you repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation today? Now? Will you be on your knees now? You don’t have to do this physically. Be humbled before God, as you are convicted of your sin, and cry out, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ The penitent sinner who humbly seeks God’s mercy will find it because of the life and death of Jesus.

We cannot earn mercy but we can receive it if we humble ourselves, confess our sin and depend totally on Jesus. Have you done so?

The Pharisee or the tax collector – which are you? It is for you and God. Make sure that if you are being a Pharisee, you are a tax collector humbled before God, trusting in Christ for forgiveness. It is the only way. May those of us who have been humbled by God’s grace be like the tax collector. May His continuing grace to us keep lest we stray to be a bit like the Pharisee.

March 31st 2019: Chris Benbow

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Chris Bembo-March19The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Luke 18:9-14

This is mind-bending! It’s confusing. It’s scandalous. The good guy, the model citizen does good things, goes to the good place, the temple, to pray. He does a good thing by praying. But, in fact, it’s not good. To God, it’s disgusting. It’s wrong. Then, the bad guy, not the guy you’d invite around to dinner, comes to God and it’s good. You see how this would have messed with the heads of the people who first heard this parable?

The issue here is righteousness. Who is righteous? Who is justified? At the end of our lives we will stand before God, the books will be opened, it will be time to find out who’s in and who’s out. Jesus teaches this parable to answer that.

The Pharisee – yeah! The tax collector – boo! Jesus sets up the extreme contrast. We ‘get’ this as we view from a New Testament perspective. However, in Jesus’ time the people didn’t see Pharisees as bad guys. They had unparalleled knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures. They were the pillar of society. They ‘fast twice a week and give a tenth of all’ they have (Luke 18:12). Fasting is going all day without food and devoting the day singularly to prayer, to God. The Pharisees also tithed, giving a tenth of all they had, giving God the first-fruits, the best of their income. From a religious standpoint, this Pharisee is a pretty good deal.

Then there’s the other guy – the tax collector. He would have been the scum of society. The Romans were a pagan empire who had slaughtered many and took taxes. Some of God’s people had joined the opposing team and bullied and intimidated the rest of God’s people, joining the foreign Romans. They would bankrupt people. They were socially and morally disgusting.

So, here they are, two people – the hero and the heathen, the Pharisee and the tax collector. They both came to the temple. 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 (Luke 18:12). The tax collector wouldn’t even look up to heaven, ‘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.’ (Luke 18:13). Jesus continues, ‘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.’(Luke 18:14).

Why is the good guy not right with God and the supposed bad guy is?

Here we see displayed righteousness and received righteousness. There is a world of difference! Which one are we most like? Are we like the Pharisee, righteousness displayed? We are right and others are wrong. This could be shown in secular ways – being self-righteous., thinking we are better than others because we recycle, because we care for the environment. It could be we get in a car and think we’re a better driver than others. Maybe it’s a cause we support – we’re an activist, supporting an environmental cause or charity, thinking of ourselves as being better than others. This is self- righteousness displayed.

May be it is even worse, religious self-righteousness. The Lord asks, why should you be in glory? If your answer begins with ‘I’ you’re in big trouble, thinking it’s all to do with you. The Pharisee’s prayer has only one mention of God and four mentions of himself. It is all about him and what he’s done. Now he thinks he is righteous. And God says, ‘No, it’s not good enough.’ God is perfect, just perfect. So compared to Him, our best isn’t good enough, to God it is offensive. The Bible says no-one is righteous, no not one. No matter how good we think we are, our displayed righteousness is no good at all.

Received righteousness is beautiful. This is righteousness received as a gift from God. The tax collector knows what’s he is like, ‘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.’ (Luke 18:13). He is essentially in mourning, grieving his sin. We’re in that boat too, we are all in that situation. The tax collector sees his sin as obvious. He can only utter, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13). He knew he was morally bankrupt. All that was left for him was to throw himself on the mercy of God. Mercy, God’s free gift, given through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Jesus tells this parable He knew what was going to happen. His naked, bloody body would be beaten, broken, hanging off a cross. It is only when you realise, this is it, this is the only way, that you realise your best is never good enough. The only thing we can do is hold our empty hands, say we have nothing to give and ask for His mercy. You will have His mercy. The price is paid. It’s done. Finished. This is the gift of righteousness. The only righteousness that is acceptable to God. If you haven’t put your trust in Jesus’ righteousness, come to Jesus and receive His grace. There is no other way. Throw yourself on God’s mercy and you will be saved.