Two Prayers In The Temple

Luke 18:9-14

I think that it’s probably fair to say that most people do not like to listen to someone brag about themselves, going on and on about how good they are at this or that, and observe them verbally pat themselves on the back over and over.  It is particularly annoying and unpleasant when this is accompanied by self-righteousness. We aren’t the only ones to dislike this type of behavior. In the parable that Jesus told in our Scripture passage today we see that God doesn’t think much of that either.

As the parable begins, Jesus describes two men who went to the Temple to pray to God.  These two couldn’t be more different from each other, as one was a Pharisee, a member of a party within the Jewish faith, known for their meticulous keeping of the Law and following rabbinic traditions.  The other man was a tax collector. Tax collectors in Biblical times were hated and despised by most people, as they looked upon them as collaborators with the Romans, and because they often would take more money than the taxes called for, keeping that extra money themselves.  On this day both the Pharisee and the tax collector came to the Temple at about the same time.

One would seem to be a devoutly religious man, wearing his Jewish prayer shawl.  Everyone would bow to him out of religious respect, as Pharisees were usually highly revered in society.  People in the neighborhood would also know the other man, as they had to go to him on a regular basis and pay their hated taxes for the Roman overlords to him.  And many would know that he probably cheated them and became rich at their expense. Someone like him wasn’t likely to be a religious, devout man.

However, as Jesus described, on this day they both went into the temple.  The Pharisee stood and started his prayer to God (vs. 11-12). What kind of a prayer was it this Pharisee made?  Actually it was not much of a prayer, but rather a recitation of how good and religious he felt that he was. He wanted to make sure that God knew what a “good” man he was.  By exalting his own works, the Pharisee showed that his entire hope lay in his not being as “bad” as others. He showed no sense of his own unworthiness and sin. He was puffed up with self-righteousness, which is a sin.  Self-righteousness brings pride. People like this will frequently despise others, and they are closed to learning from God. The tax collector, on the other hand, showed true humility before God (vs. 13). He knew his sin, and was repentant.  He had no hope except for the mercy of God.

This parable clearly teaches justification by faith, and not through works.  If we could be justified in God’s sight through our works, then the Pharisee would be saved, as he had many “good works”.  But all that those works of his did was to make him proud, something that God hates. All throughout the Gospels we read how Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their self-righteousness and religious pride, when their hearts were not truly right with God.  All of their good, religious works were nothing in God’s eyes if their hearts were not right with Him. The tax collector had no good works. He was devoid of personal righteousness, but he was declared righteous before God because he came to God begging for His mercy.  The tax collector showed repentant faith.

God showed the tax collector mercy (vs. 14).  He went home with God’s imputed righteousness, and not the Pharisee.  The Pharisee had not come to talk to God, but to talk about himself, about how he was not like other people.  He did not come to thank or praise God. He went home just as he had come in - unrepentant and unforgiven. The tax collector had come to the Temple to talk to God, and to plead for His mercy, forgiveness, and love.  He went home a changed man, justified and forgiven.

What is our attitude before God?  Do we like to enumerate all of our “religious activities” in our mind, before others, and before God?  Do we feel smug when we put in a big offering or when we carry our big Bible to and from church? Do we feel more highly about ourselves than those we consider “sinners”?   The tax collector’s prayer is the one that God will hear, not the Pharisee’s.