The Man Who Went Home Justified Series

The Pharisee stood up – that’s not too unusual for any Jew – and it was probably near the entrance to the holy place in the temple – that’s not too unusual for the Pharisees – after all, they were the “religious men” of that time. Jesus said, "…when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.” That’s what we picture here. He’s a man who has chosen the time and place and way he’s praying so that other people will see it and be impressed by his holiness. It has very little to do with God, and everything to do with pride.

The tax collector stood somewhere away from the Pharisee. He was in no mood to even look up, because he had a broken heart about his life and the way it stood between him and God. In fact, he was beating his chest as he spoke. Have you ever been there? You’ve done something wrong, and when you’re confronted with it, you can’t even look at the person talking to you? One of the ways we can show to God that we’re serious about humbling ourselves is the position we assume. Sometimes there’s a place for us to be on our knees or on our face. Sometimes there’s a place for tears on our cheeks when we humble ourselves before the Lord.

Ill - When you consider that the word Islam means “submission,” it doesn’t seem so strange that they would require their adherents to bow themselves clear down when they pray. It’s one of the obvious ways they show submission, at least on the outside - by the position they assume when they pray. I found it interesting when I learned that in the Greek Orthodox Church the typical position of prayer assumed by priests during ordination isn’t kneeling, or bowing. It’s stretching out completely with their face on the floor.

Another way we can tell the tax collector was humbling himself is by his words.

We would do well to look at the prayer of a Pharisee. Jesus actually says he “prayed toward himself.” Look again at his words, and that makes sense. He mentions God at the beginning, but from there his prayer has very little to do with God. He was just speaking from one part of his mind to another.

Have you ever sat and listened to a prayer and wondered if God was the audience or maybe it was someone else? That’s an issue of humility.

The tax collector was speaking to God. What he had to say wouldn’t gain him anything in anyone else’s eyes.

He went home justified because he humbled himself in front of God.

Have you done that today? Have you done that in your lifetime? Have you ever approached God with the same view of yourself that He has of you? Will you leave here, justified?

The man who went home justified…

II. Didn’t Compare Himself With Others

Story - King Frederick II, an eighteenth-century king of Prussia, was visiting a prison in Berlin. All the inmates tried to prove to him how they’d been wrongfully imprisoned. All, except one.