Tuesday, January 5

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  - Luke 18:9-14

Jesus gives us two solutions to the problem of righteousness in this parable, two ways of dealing with the universal human need for acceptance and approval.  These two solutions are represented in the two characters in the parable; the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. 

The approach of the Pharisee is the “outside-in” approach.  Notice that the Pharisee’s prayer is focused completely on external behavior.  He says that he does not rob, steal, commit adultery, etc. and that he fasts twice a week and gives a tenth of all he gets.  His understanding of sin is completely external; do these things and don’t do those things.  It is interesting that he does not thank God for making him a more patient, kind, or forgiving person. The Pharisee sees righteousness as keeping the rules, i.e. not violating any of God’s commands.  He is also something of an elitist and separatist.  In fact the very term Pharisee means “separated one”.  He thanks God that he is “not like other men”.  He sees himself in comparative terms.  He is evaluating his standing with God on a kind of spiritual curve.  When he looks around at all of the “sinners”, he feels that on the whole God must be pretty pleased with him. 

Let’s admit that it is hard not to dislike this fellow.  He seems so arrogant and full of himself.  We should be careful not to be too hard on this Pharisee.  He is not a hypocrite, he is not intentionally acting one way in the Temple and living completely differently when he is at home or out in the community. Jesus does sometimes refer to the Pharisees and religious leaders as hypocrites, but this does not mean that all of them were hypocritical.  This Pharisee is by all accounts a “good man”.  He is serious about obeying the word of God.  He is faithful to his wife.  He is honest in his dealings with other people.  He leads a disciplined life and He is generous with his wealth.  He genuinely wants to please God, he is a “good man”.  But the truth is that our churches are full of “good men” and “good women” who are far from God. Despite all of his goodness, this man doe not understand the heart of the Gospel.  This is because the outside-in approach never works.  It cannot solve the fundamental problem of righteousness, because it is focused on the wrong things! 

A profound example of the power and the problem of this outside-in approach is found in the 1998 film “Saving Private Ryan”.  In the movie, a young army private, John Francis Ryan, is saved by the heroic sacrifices of a small company of soldiers led by Capt. John H. Miller.  Near the end of the movie, Capt. Miller lies dying on a bridge and he says to Private Ryan, “Earn this.”  At the very end of the movie, Private Ryan, now an old man, comes back to Normandy with his wife and family.  He finds the grave marker of Capt. Miller and he begins to cry.  His wife asks him what is wrong and he turn to her with tears of desperation in his eyes and says, “Tell me I am a good man.  Tell me I have led a good life.”  Private Ryan has lived his whole life trying to “earn this”, and now at the end of his life, he desperately wants to know if he has done enough, if he has been good enough, if he has “earned it”. 

This is the outside-in approach in a nutshell.  Far too many people who claim to be Christians think this is how it works – they are dead wrong.  How can you know if you are good enough?  How can you know if you have done enough?  How can you know if you are righteous in the eyes of God?  If you are living according to the outside-in approach, you will never know. 

There is only one way we can know with absolute certainty that we are accepted by God and “good enough” in His sight, it is through the “Inside-Out” approach of the Tax-Collector…but that is the subject of tomorrow’s 10 minutes With God. 


Jeff Frazier