The Pharisee And The Tax Collector Series

Message

Luke 18:9-14

The Pharisee and The Tax Collector

Let’s open our Bibles and turn to Luke 18:9-14 where we find the parable of the Pharisee

Read

Those who first heard this parable would have been shocked.

The tax-collector, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified.

To be justified means your sin has been forgiven.

The free grace of God has been applied to your life.

God Himself declares you as righteous.

Justified – that is how the tax-collector is identified. And, in this particular situation, the Pharisee is not justified. How is that possible?

The crowds would be asking this question because the Pharisees were highly regarded spiritual leaders in the Jewish community at the time.

To see why we need to go back to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587BC. Up to that point all worship in Israel was focussed on the temple and the sacrificial system. In 587BC Nebuchadnezzar’s army comes and flattens the temple … and then for good measure they set fire to the rubble.

Now there is no temple.

But did the religion of Israel die?

Not at all.

When the temple was destroyed godly men developed a pattern of worship that centred on the book of the law – our Old Testament. The spiritual descendants of these godly men were the Pharisees.

The Pharisees built synagogues, taught the Scriptures, and tried to maintain a distinctive Biblical identity amongst their people. The Pharisee were the ones who strongly resisted the secular influence of Babylon, then Persia, then Greek, and then Rome. As each new world power gained position the Pharisees maintained the spiritual life of the nation. In the first century, when Jesus lived, the Jewish religion is thriving. Synagogues are found in most cities, not just in Israel but all over the Roman world. The Jews were still worshipping God, living a distinctive way of life and teaching the Scriptures to their own children.

Much credit for this spiritual situation goes to the Pharisees and they were highly honoured and respected as a result. The first century historian, Josephus, says

The cities give great attestations to (the Pharisees), on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives, and their discourses also.

Josephus Antiquities Book 18, Chapter 1, Paragraph 3

The community valued the Pharisees. That same community hated tax-collectors. To be a tax-collector in the Roman Empire you needed to be a citizen of the country which was occupied. So the tax-collectors in first century Israel were Jews. Jews who had made a bid for the contract to collect tax on behalf of the Roman government. In the eyes of the community tax-collectors were traitors … worse than traitors … because they were also corrupt.

When a tax-collector made an estimate on how much tax you owed … well that was law. If citizens didn’t like the tax estimate, or they wouldn’t pay, all the tax-collector had to do was ask the Roman military for help to get the money. Even when the estimate was much more than required by the Roman government. Everyone knew that tax-collectors were pocketing more money than they should have been – which is how they became rich and even influential.

Tax-collectors were lying and cheating traitors who work for the Roman enemy to rip off their fellow citizens in order to make a personal fortune. How is it possible that this tax-collector is justified … is declared righteous … rather than the Pharisee.

Let’s go back to the context of the parable.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable

Luke 18:9

We could call this comparative righteousness.

… we compare our righteousness to others.

… we then congratulate ourselves because our righteousness is better than the righteousness of others.

I am not like others. I am a better spiritual example. I am a better Christian.

Salvation in not found in comparative righteousness. There are two reasons for this.

The first reason is found in Romans 3:10-12

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Comparative righteousness forgets that God doesn’t compare us to each other, God compares us to Himself. By that standard – no-one has a righteousness of their own. By that standard no-one would be saved.

The other reason salvation is not found in comparative righteous is that there will always be people who have a great faithfulness than you.

I find it interesting that when non-believers, or people who don’t want to minimise the need for religion, what to show how good they are they will say things like:-