Keith Sharp | Parables of the Master
Text : Luke 18:9-14
Introduction
Two men prayed. God heard one man’s prayer; the other just talked to himself. The Master used the occasion of prayer to teach, not just the right attitude in prayer, but the proper spirit in which we at all times are to serve God. One man was justified before God; the other congratulated himself on his righteousness but was not right with the Lord. Wherein lay the difference?
The place they prayed wasn’t the difference, for, as was proper for Jews (1 Kings 8:28-54), they both went into the temple to pray. Nor was their posture in prayer the distinguishing factor, for they both stood (Luke 18:11,13). Posture in prayer is unimportant – whether one falls on his face (Joshua 7:6-10; Matthew 26:39; Luke 5:12; 17:16), kneels (Ezra 9:5; Daniel 6:10; Acts 20:36;), stands (Luke 18:11,13), or spreads out his hands (Ezra 9:5; 1 Timothy 2:8) – except as it expresses the attitude of the heart. Why was one man justified before God and the other not?
The difference was in the men themselves.
The Two Men
Surely the Pharisee was the one God received. The Pharisees grew out of a sect of Jews that arose during the second century before Christ known as the “‘Hasidaeans’ a transcription of the Hebrew ‘chasidim,’ i.e., ‘pious ones,’ … a society of men zealous for religion” (Vine). The name “Pharisees” means “separatists.” They “carefully kept themselves from any legal contamination, distinguishing themselves by their care in such matters from the common people” (ISBE). “They considered themselves as protectors of the law; they were accused of ‘building a fence around the law,’ which meant they built around the law a wall of their own traditions” (Lightfoot. 141). They “despised,” that is, they “viewed … with contempt” (NASB), the common people, thinking them to be ignorant of the law of God” (Luke 18:9; John 7:47-49). The Pharisee was on the top rung of respectability and honor.
Conversely, the tax collector wasn’t even on the ladder! The Romans followed a system of taxation borrowed from the Ptolemies, the rulers of Egypt before the Romans, that virtually demanded corruption. Rather than collecting taxes themselves from their conquered subjects, they gave the job to the highest bidder. The head tax collector had an assessed amount he had to provide the Romans. Whatever he collected in excess of this was his to keep. Roman soldiers enforced the collection. Common people were ignorant of the tax laws and easily defrauded. So the tax collectors were infamous traitors and thieves. They were lumped with notorious sinners (Matthew 5:46-47; Luke 7:34). They didn’t win any popularity contests!
A Prayerless Prayer
The Pharisee didn’t really pray. He talked to himself under the guise of prayer (Luke 18:11). He pretended to thank God, but this was a cover for self exaltation, bragging on himself (Ibid). He was very thankful he was better than other men. It’s easy to think we are righteous if our standard is other sinners (2 Corinthians 10:12).
He was not an extortioner, one who takes “the goods of others by force and violence” or takes “advantage of the necessities of others, the poor and the oppressed,” to “extort their property” (Barnes), an apt description of the typical tax collector, and, by the way, of many Pharisees (Matthew 23:14). And he was certainly not like that despised tax collector way back there in the back of the auditorium making a scene beating on his chest! Who let him in?
And his goodness wasn’t just negative. He fasted twice a week. Although the Law only demanded one fast a year, on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 6:29-31), the Pharisees fasted every Monday and Thursday, because Moses supposedly ascended Mt. Sinai on Monday and descended on Thursday. He gave tithes, not only of his income, as the Law demanded (Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-23), but of everything he possessed (Luke 18:11).
By doing even more than the Law demanded, he trusted in himself that he was righteous (Luke 18:9), that is, he thought to have earned his right standing before God by bringing God into debt to him. That is a spiritually fatal mistake. None of us can ever do enough to bring God into our debt, that is, to earn our right standing before Him. We have all sinned (Romans 3:23), and ‘the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). From the day the first sin entered our lives throughout all eternity, on the basis of earned righteousness, we will always “come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). You can’t do enough community service to negate the death penalty! Besides, nothing we can do benefits God (Job 22:2-3). We have nothing He needs (Psalm 50:12; Romans 11:35). When we do everything He demands of us, we remain “unprofitable servants,” in debt to Him (Luke 17:10). You cannot earn your salvation.
The Pharisee thought he was spiritually self sufficient. He didn’t confess his sins; he announced his goodness. He asked nothing from God, and he received nothing.
A Real Prayer
The tax collector’s prayer manifested his humble realization of his own unworthiness. He would not even approach the altar but stood far away. His head was bowed in shame. He beat his breast in anguish over his sins (cf. Nahum 2:7). His prayer consisted of just seven words. “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:13, NASB). He pleaded for mercy, the help of the helpless, from God (Romans 9:16; Ephesians 2:4-7;Titus 3:5; Hebrews 4:16; 1 Peter 1:3). In his own estimation, he wasn’t just a sinner, he was the sinner, the chief, the foremost, of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).
The tax collector went home justified before God rather than the Pharisee (Luke 18:14).
Conclusion
It took some nerve for the Master to portray a tax collector favorably. Furthermore, they often were found in His company (Matthew 9:10; Mark 2:15; Luke 5:29). In fact, Matthew, also called “Levi,” one of the Lord’s apostles, was a tax collector (Luke 5:27; Matthew 10:3). But the tax collectors willingly heard Jesus (Luke 15:1), and they entered the kingdom ahead of the Pharisees (Matthew 21:31). Why? Because the Pharisees “trusted in themselves that they were righteous” and the tax collectors, in grief over their many sins, humbly sought the mercy of God.
Two men went into the temple to pray. One really went to brag. One went to seek the mercy of God. The bragger went home a sinner; the sinner went home justified. Which pictures us?
Works Cited
Barnes, Albert, Notes on Luke.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
Lightfoot, Neil R., Lessons from the Parables.
New American Standard Bible.
Vine, W.E., An Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.
