Side By Side: Blog from Lucas Botz

Recently I heard a sermon on a passage of scripture that opened my eyes to the plank in them. I was caught in it, the very thing this parable was meant to do, but not in the way you would expect. lets read it.

Luke 18:9-14

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The 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. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13"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.'

14"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."

Who are you in this passage? Tax collector or Pharisee?

When I first heard this i thought of my self as the tax collector after all he as the good guy but lets look at who they were.

The Tax Collector

The tax collector of that day was consider a traitor, a Jew working for the Roman government by collecting their tax. The Roman tax was heavy and there where no deductions or refunds to combat high taxes. Worse, a tax collector would tax more then what was due and take the profit. If some couldn't pay their taxes, the tax collector would notify the Roman government and their response would be to seize property or family members would be sold into slavery to pay for their debt. Needless to say the tax collector had lots of power at their disposal and was well hated by most Jews.

The Pharisee

The Pharisee was the Jewish religious leader of the day. They thrived off of following Jewish religious law, and enforcing that strict adherence on other Jews.

When we hear this passage our minds tend to think that the Pharisee was so full of themselves, proclaiming rather then praying. I gotta believe that his pray was genuine, with thankfulness to God that he is not like the tax collector (a traitor). This doesn't sound like a bad prayer. However, Jesus says that the Pharisees wasn't justified. Why?

Caught in the sin of comparison.

Is it wrong to be thankful we are not as "bad" as someone else? To be glad we aren't considered "traitors" or similar? Have you prayed this way? I have on many of occasions

Let's look at who Jesus is telling this story to. The first line says Jesus was talking to "some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else." They were comparing themselves and their "righteousness" towards others. I too, found myself doing this. One thing is made clear, we are to compare ourselves to God's standard for our lives, feel HIS conviction, and make known our sorrow for falling short to Him. By comparing ourselves to others, and seeing ourselves as "holier" than someone else, we will not come away justified before God.

If want to hear the whole message which doesn't a much better job. it's titled

3/8/2009 – Shocking Humility and Extravagant Grace, by Greg Boyd

http://www.whchurch.org/content/page_173.htm

Thanks Kris for giving me the opportunity to share.