Luke 18:9-14: How Good People Fool Themselves

INTRODUCTION

I remember back when I taught school how the children would behave on the day the grades came out.

Some would be very anxious because they feared the worst.

Some would be happy because they were sure the grade they would receive would confirm their good opinion of themselves.

I hated grading children because I knew that for some good grades came easy, and for others, no matter how hard they worked, they could never make top grades.

Jesus told a parable about a man who knew he had made top grades and another man who knew he had failed.

But the story doesn’t come out just the way you think.

Here is Jesus’s story.

Luke 18:9-14: He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank thee 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.”

I. First, let’s picture the scene.

A. To the Jews of Jesus’s day, their Temple was the most beautiful building in all the world.

It was such a holy place that one could practically feel God to be present there.

The Temple wasn’t anything like a church building—not even like a great cathedral.

The Temple building itself stood in the middle of a great courtyard the size of 20 football fields.

Around the courtyard were colonnaded porches, sheltered areas where people could gather to hear sermons, pray, or discuss the scriptures.

The priests could go inside but for the people the worship went on outside.

Sacrifices, the prayers, the preaching, and instrumental music and singing took place outside in the courtyard.

Worship wasn’t like at church, where people go, attend a service, and then go home.

They had services, but most of the worship was prayers that people offered on their own.

The worshiper would choose a place to pray and then lift up his or her voice out loud to God, who they felt was very close to them. As they prayed, they would lift their hands up and look up into heaven as they prayed.

B. There are only two characters in our story, a Pharisee and a tax collector.

The Pharisee was a good person, a person who was admired.

He was devout and serious about his faith.

Mothers would be pleased to suppose that their sons might grow up to be Pharisees.

The tax collector was not a good person.

He was hated by most people because he was serving the Roman rulers of the land.

The tax collector would have been hated like a collaborator in one of the Nazi occupied countries during World War 2. Remember the name “Quisling”?

These tax collectors collected the taxes for the Roman rulers of the land.

They were noted for shaking down people and collecting way more than was due. And much of the tax went to Rome to build palaces, fund wars, and benefit the rich and powerful people in Rome.

Tax collectors were noted for being dishonest and rich. They were willing to do the enemy’s dirty work because it paid well.

Mothers didn’t hope their sons would grow up to be tax collectors.

C. These two men—the tax collector and the Pharisee—entered the Temple court as all people did by coming up the stairs that ran under the walls from the city far below.

The Pharisee chose his place, we gather, a prominent place where many could hear his prayer and admire his piety.

The tax collector, we read, chose a place “afar” off, because he wasn’t proud of the prayer he had to make.

II. Now let’s listen to the prayers of each of these men.

A. The Pharisee’s prayer is all thanksgiving.

“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.”

This man was a pillar of the church. He knew his Bible. He talked the talk and walked the walk.

He gave generously to the work of the Lord. He prayed several times every day. He fasted twice a week.

He was serious about his faith, as we all should be.

Everything he said was true.

But when he compared himself to other men, “extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this tax collector,” he showed that he was as much pleased with other men’s badness as he was with his own goodness.

B. Now listen to the tax collector’s prayer.

He chose a place, away from the crowd to pray his prayer.

He was so overwhelmed by his need for forgiveness that he didn’t even look up to heaven—as was the custom—and he didn’t hold up his arms—as was the custom—but he bowed his head and pounded his chest with his fists and cried out in his desperation: “God be merciful to me, a sinner!”

I can believe that he spoke those words over and over, so great was his need.

III. But look at how Jesus evaluated the two men and their prayers.

A. Jesus said that the tax collector went home justified, rather than the good Pharisee.

Jesus liked the tax collector’s prayer because it came from a humble heart.

Jesus said that the tax collector went home “justified.”

By that Jesus meant that the sinner’s prayer set him right with God.

When he cried out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” he connected with God. God heard and forgave him and came into his life.

We can believe that from then on this tax collector was a changed man, a man who knew and loved and served God.

B. But Jesus didn’t approve of the Pharisee’s prayer. That prayer didn’t set him right with God.

The Pharisee’s prayer concerns me—because the Pharisee was a lot like me.

I take my religion seriously. I try to live for God.

This parable warns us religious people of the danger of thinking we are better than we are.

The problem with living for God is that we’re so likely to make us think we are better than other people.

The devil tempts us to congratulate ourselves on our accomplishments.

The devil tempts us to criticize other people we see as worse than we are.

What should happen as we live for God and make progress in our Christian life is that we will become more and more aware of our need for forgiveness.

Instead of comparing ourselves with other people, we should be comparing ourselves with what we ought to be.

We need to consider that we’ve had advantages other people haven’t had.

If we had lived their life, we might be worse than they are.

I must never think that goodness in my life is because of me.

Whatever good there is in my life comes from God, and he should get the credit.

So rather than thanking God that I am better than someone else, I need to thank God that he loves even sinners such as myself.

No matter how far I go in my walk with God, I need to keep repeating the prayer of the tax collector: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

CONCLUSION

In an  old Greek fable, everyone carries two packs, as if each is suspended from a pole—one pack in front and one pack in back.

The pack in front is the sins of other people.

The pack in back is my own sins.

I see clearly the sins of others.

I am mostly blind to my own sins.

Some years ago a drunk smashed a full-length mirror in a ballroom in Venice, California. His hand was gashed and bloody.

The police arrested him for public intoxication.

The wounded man told the police: “I just walked into the room and saw this other guy looking at me very nasty.”

If we could just see ourselves as others see us, what a difference that would make!

We would see sins that have escaped our notice.

Have you ever heard a person criticize someone, and said to yourself, “But you do the same thing; you just don’t realize it.”

The closer we live to Jesus the more we will be aware of how far short we come from what we ought to be.

The farther along the road of holiness we go, the farther our goal will seem to be.

The mark of true holiness is to forgive others, to understand the hard battle they may be fighting, and to turn our eyes upon Jesus.

A saint of God said, “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.”

If we are truly walking with Jesus, if he is filling our vision, we will become holy and good without congratulating ourselves.

Even when we are in heaven with Jesus we won’t forget that we are saved sinners.

We won’t be congratulating ourselves; we’ll be praising God and thanking him for his mercy.

I have a friend who says she hates the hymn “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”

She says, “I’m not a wretch!”

I think that in heaven we’ll still be singing “Amazing Grace,” because we’ll be even more aware than we are now of what we would be like without God’s grace.

In the last book in the Bible—the book of Revelation—we have several scenes of the redeemed in heaven worshiping Jesus with the angels—and Jesus is always called “The Lamb”—not because he will look like a sheep but because Jesus is our offering for sin. We will see those scars in his hands, and we will never forget that we are sinners saved by his life-giving blood.

Here are three prayers we might pray every day:

“God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

and

“Thank you, Jesus.”

and

“Make me a blessing to someone today.”