Luke 18:10-14
The Lord said this parable, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’
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!’
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In our Gospel reading today from Saint Luke, we hear the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, also known as the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. It is very well-known parable and, of course, the basis of the Jesus Prayer. The core of the parable, as our Lord Himself emphasises, is the importance of humility, and understanding one’s own sinfulness, one’s own need for repentance, and one’s own need of God’s mercy.
There is another aspect of this passage that strikes me as being as important. And that is to consider the behaviour of the two men whom Our Lord holds up before us in the parable.
First there is the Pharisee. He is very proud of how well he follows the precepts of his faith. He tithes. He fasts. He obeys the commandments. He tells God this, as if he somehow thinks that God is not already aware of this.
But his focus is on more than just his own good opinion of himself. He is also aware of who else is in the temple with him.
The person who catches his attention most, as we all know, is the tax collector. Hated and despised by almost all in Jewish society, he is an easy target for the Pharisee, who is busy comparing what he thinks of his own goodness and holiness with that of others and finding them all wanting. Other men may break some of the commandments, fall short when it comes to tithing, fail when it comes to keeping the laws of fasting. But they are nowhere near as bad as the tax collector. He is the lowest of the low. He works for the Romans. He is a sinner, bone deep.
And what of the tax collector? Where does his attention lie? Well, he certainly isn’t looking around the temple to see who else might be there. Looking at the text, he appears not even to be aware that the Pharisee is there. No, our Lord tells us that this man does not even look up to heaven. His focus is purely on himself and in a way that is very different indeed to the way that the Pharisee looks proudly upon himself.
Does the tax collector tithe? Does he fast? Does he keep the commandments as best he can? We have no idea, for he does not mention this. He does not try to tell God that even though he is a tax collector, he otherwise does his very best to be good and holy; or that the good things that he does do makes up for the way he fails in other ways.
Nor does he look at the Pharisee and despise him in his heart. He doesn’t think ‘look at the fellow standing proudly right up at the front, with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.’ Nor does he say to himself ‘see how he looks around at everyone else here, frowning at them, especially me, thinking of himself as being better than the rest of us.’ Nor does mutter under his breath ‘well look at that, a Pharisee, one of those who like to make up rules for the common folk, heavy burdens that are too difficult for us to bear … and he knows it!’
No, as I said already, he is seemingly unaware of this man or anyone else. He simply stands there, eyes downcast, beating his breast, acknowledging how sinful he is, and asking God for His mercy.
I am reminded here of our Lord’s words from the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the seventh chapter of Saint Matthew’s Gospel: ‘Why do you look at the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in thine own eye?’ We must look to our own sins. The sins of others are between them and God, just as our sins are between us and God.
It was the tax collector in the parable who went home justified. Not because he was free of sin. But because he recognised the wrongs he had done and asked God’s mercy for them. Whatever sins the Pharisee or anyone else might have committed, he did not imagine or consider. I pray that you will do likewise. Amen.
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Taglines: Order of Saint George; Saint Luke’s Gospel; Jesus Christ; the Pharisee and the publican; the Pharisee and the tax collector; repentance; mercy; Lord, have mercy on me;
