Wednesday, January 6

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 (see yesterday’s entry), and it will never solve the problem of righteousness.  The other approach is the approach of the Tax Collector and it is the Inside-Out approach.

Unlike the Pharisee, the Tax Collector does not see himself or his sin in comparison to others.  He sees his sin in ultimate terms, and he seems to know that he has no one to compare himself to but God himself.  This is why he can do nothing but beat his breast and cry out to God for mercy.  The Pharisee stands apart from others because he believes that himself to be better than they are.  The Tax Collector stands apart because he knows that he is unworthy of being in the presence of God.  The Pharisee thanks God that he is “not like other men”.  The Tax Collector cries out to God for mercy because he knows that he is the worst of sinners.  Most English translations read that the Tax Collector called himself “a sinner”.  However, the Greek actually contains a definite article, in other words, he actually called himself “the sinner”.  He does not see himself as just another sinner, or one of many. 

The point is that as long as you see yourself in comparison to others, you do not see yourself accurately.  The Pharisee viewed sin in external and comparative terms.  When you see your sin like the Pharisee, there is always somebody worse than you.  There is always someone you can point to in order to make yourself feel a little better and say; “well at least I am not as bad as that guy”.  However, when you see yourself in the light of the Holiness of God, then you realize that the comparison game is utter foolishness.  It is like two wounded men starving to death in the desert arguing over which one is of them is taller; it is pointless, the point is that they are both without hope unless someone comes to their rescue! 

This is what the Tax Collector instinctively understood; he had no hope unless God was willing to have mercy on him.  This is why Jesus says that it is the Tax Collector and not the Pharisee who went home justified in the sight of God.  We don’t quite catch the impact of this statement today, but for those Jews listening to Jesus tell this story, this would have been a shocking statement! 

It would have been surprising enough for Jesus to say that the Tax Collectoras well as the Pharisee went home justified before God, but Jesus doesn’t say that.  He says that one man goes home justified, and one man does not. It is the Pharisee, the “good man”, the religious man, the rule keeper that everyone would have assumed is right with God.  But Jesus says that the Tax Collector, the cheat, the outcast, the sinner is the one who is justified – What!?  Why!?  Because only the Inside-Out approach can account for our problem of righteousness.  The Outside-In approach says, “earn it”, the Inside-Out approach says, “receive it”! 


Jeff Frazier