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Praying

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Jan 18

3 min read

Jesus often told parables when he taught. Parables are short stories to teach a point. So, one of Jesus’s stories was about a Pharisee and a tax collector (Luke 18:9—14). In this parable, Jesus’s point is how wrong people can be about whether they are right with God or not. Jesus never let anyone believe they were okay with God when they weren’t. He always pointed out their true condition. So in this story, there is an ultra-religious Pharisee and a hated tax collector. Both men are in the temple and both are doing the same thing: they are praying. Let’s see what they are praying about.


The Pharisee. He’s busy comparing himself to others—people he considers wretched sinners. And boy, is he thankful to God he’s not at all like them! Man, they are awful! The Pharisee ticks off the ways he’s better than these sinners: he fasts twice a week, far more often than what the Scriptures command—Jews were only required to fast once per year. The Pharisee tithes all that he gets—which means he gives 10% of his income, even giving 10% of what he grows in his garden (Matthew 23:23)! Can you imagine meticulously counting out 10 % of your garden produce? By his actions, we see the Pharisee is confident 1) that he’s far superior to others, and 2) that he’s in good graces with God. How is that possible? Because the Pharisee believes that God’s only interested in rules—to be good with God, you just have to follow God’s rules. If God says fast once a year, and I fast twice a week, I’m in fantastic shape on the fasting front—right? That’s his line of thinking.


The tax collector. This guy is the complete opposite of the Pharisee. He’s a miserable man. The first thing Jesus said about the tax collector in His story is that he was standing at a distance from the Pharisee. Why? Because this tax collector considered himself so sinful in comparison to the Pharisee that he kept his distance to avoid any possibility of “contaminating” the Pharisee’s purer self. And, instead of raising his eyes to heaven while he prayed, which was the normal way people prayed back then, this man lowered his sinful eyes in shame. And there’s more. This miserable man was actually beating his chest. Why? Because he was so grieved over his sin! He knew in his heart what his true condition was: he was a sinner. He was without hope and rescue from his hopeless, sin-filled life was in God’s hands. His only hope was that God would be merciful. The tax collector cried out for mercy.


How does the story end? The Pharisee was wrongly confident in himself and his fastidious rule-following. God is not into rule-following for the sake of following rules. He desires a repentant and sincere heart that obeys Him out of love. The Pharisee obeyed out of duty. He thought doing all the “right” stuff made him righteous before God. It simply left him lost and without God. On the other hand, God saw into that tax collector’s heart…God knew he was truly repentant of his sins…God knew the man understood he was completely dependent on Him to save him…God knew this man wasn’t perfect and never would be…and God knew that the man treasured eternal life with Him more than anything. God was merciful. He saved that tax collector. What about you? What is your true condition? If you need a Bible or prayer, let me know.

Jan 18

3 min read

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