The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Luke 18:9-14
Vic. Leonardo Chandra
When we look at this passage, some of us may already have a certain pre-understanding of the two characters introduced here. Among Christians, the word “Pharisee” often carries a negative connotation, while “tax collector” may be viewed more positively, perhaps because of the story of Zacchaeus. Because of this, we can miss how the story would have been understood by the first readers, the first-century Israelites. For them, the connotations were largely the opposite. Pharisees were regarded as the good guys because they were regarded as religious people who obeyed the law and were therefore considered trustworthy. Tax collectors, on the other hand, were regarded as traitors because they worked for the Roman authorities. They were also known for corruption, often collecting more than what was required. This was the common understanding among the people at that time, which is why it is surprising that, in this parable, it goes the other way around.
When it comes to justification, it is not the Pharisee, the religious person, who is justified. To put it in contemporary terms, perhaps we could compare those who go to church regularly with those who go only once a year or once every several years. It is the person who rarely comes to church who is justified, while the person who regularly comes to church and obeys the law is not. That is the surprise in this parable. It might even be easier for us to think that neither of them is justified. After all, tax collectors were sinners and wrongdoers, so we might expect that the tax collector would not be justified. But we might also think that the Pharisee is not justified because he is a hypocrite, and God sees beyond outward appearances. That might be easier for us, and especially for a first-century Israelite, to accept. But what happens here is the other way around. What Jesus introduces here is the upside-down nature of the kingdom, where things sometimes go the other way around and the outcome is different from our expectations.
The next question is: what is justification? Justification means having a right standing before God. It is a technical term used regularly in the Bible. The question, then, is who has this right standing before God, who is justified and accepted by him? Again using contemporary terminology, the surprising picture is that those who regularly come to church and obey the law are rejected, while those who come rarely but then cry out because of their sins are the ones who are accepted. This reversal should shock and surprise us. But the goal of the parable is not merely to surprise us by overturning our expectations. Rather, it serves as a warning to all of us. We should not reduce this as merely a Pharisee problem, because it functions as a warning for us as well. Even we as Reformed people or simply as churchgoers, are not immune to this kind of mistake. That is why this parable is still meaningful for the church today.
How can we know who will be justified before God? How can we know who will be accepted by God? Some might answer that it is because of God’s election: when God chooses someone, that person is saved, while those who are not elected are not saved. That is true, of course, but if we simply stop there, the discussion can become abstract, almost as if it were random. One person is accepted and another is not, and the explanation simply becomes that it depends on God. But here, and in many places in the Bible, we can recognize how someone can be accepted by God, or, more precisely, how someone can be perceived as one who has been accepted by God, and why others are not. Here, this is presented through prayer. We can recognize it through prayer because prayer is not only a moment of reflection but also a revelation of the person.
There is some discussion about whether the Pharisee was speaking out loud to denigrate the tax collector when he thanked God that he was not like him, or whether he kept these to himself. Nevertheless, since this is a parable, what is interesting is that he is honest about what is in his heart. Whether he spoke it aloud or not, his prayer reveals who he really is. As Alan Thompson points out, in the contrast between these two characters we see a contrast in how we approach God. Whether we pray publicly or privately, aloud or silently, prayer can reveal something about us. We can recognize who is truly accepted by God and justified before him through their prayer, especially through an honest prayer to God.
The first thing we see is the problem with the Pharisee: he trusts in himself. Verse 9 tells us that Jesus “told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” The problem is that the Pharisee puts his trust or confidence in himself. Of course, we should not go to the other extreme, as if those who are truly Christian should never have any confidence at all, should always feel inferior, or should always be in doubt. That is not the point here. The problem with the Pharisee is not that he has confidence or trusts in something, but in whom he puts his confidence. Here, he puts his confidence in himself. In contrast the tax collector does not rely on himself. Perhaps that is because it is quite clear that he cannot rely on himself. He is unreliable. But through this, the tax collector realizes that God is the one on whom he should rely.
In whom do we really put our trust? Whom do we really rely on in our lives? I believe we are not immune to this problem. Sometimes throughout this life, we can also fall into the trap of relying more on ourselves. Perhaps we rely on a system or on other things, and we forget or fail to rely on God himself. This is the problem of the Pharisee. He relies on himself, especially on his own righteousness. To put it simply, concerning his right standing before God, he relies on himself, his credibility, his success, and everything he has done. This is his failure. He thinks that because of everything he has done, he can rely on himself instead of on God’s mercy.
We should understand that this does not mean that we must never rely on anything other than God in every area of life. Some people may take the point to that extreme. But the issue here concerns our salvation and our right standing before God. In spiritual matters, we must always remember that we rely on God. In physical matters, there are many things that we rely on, and that is not wrong. For example, when we turn on a light, we rely on electricity. We do not normally stop and pray each time we turn on the light. Likewise, when we sit on a couch, we rely on it to support us and expect it to function properly. This is how we normally live day by day. The danger comes when, concerning our right standing before God and our spiritual life, we begin to rely on ourselves rather than on God. This is the problem of the Pharisee.
Sometimes this problem develops because something has already become a habit. In the beginning, even to come to church, we struggle and pray to God. We ask God earnestly to move our hearts, prepare us, help us focus, and enable us to listen attentively to his Word. But after many years, we can begin to lose that sense of dependence. We begin to assume that we can stay focused, wake up on time, and come to church by our own strength. We lose that sense of reliance on God alone. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we begin to rely on ourselves, our systems, and our habits rather than on God. In this way, we fall into the same trap as the Pharisee. After all the good work he has done, he now relies on himself. This should be a warning to all of us that we must continue to rely on God in everything we do, especially in our service to him.
The next contrast is about the content of the Pharisee’s prayer. It is interesting that the Pharisee says he is thankful to God. He thanks God because he is “not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Then in verse 12 he says, “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” We should understand that these are all good works, and they were commanded in the Bible. What, then, is the problem? As John Calvin pinpoints in his commentary, the Pharisee trusts in his works. Calvin explains that he trusts in them as though God will be reconciled to him because he deserves it. He considers what he has done and concludes that he deserves salvation. Calvin’s point is that even if a person gives God praise for his works, if he imagines that the righteousness of those works is the cause of his salvation or rests upon them, he is condemned of wicked arrogance.
There is an important distinction here. We should do good works, but we must remember that our good works are never the basis or the cause of our salvation. We are never saved because of how many ministries we have done, how many offerings we have given, how much we have tithed, or anything like that. These are good things, of course, but they are not the basis of our salvation. Sadly and ironically, this is the fault of the Pharisee. He counts what he has done and compares himself with others, especially the tax collector. Because of all these things, he considers himself deserving of salvation. This is the contrast with the tax collector. The tax collector realizes that he has no works on which to rely, and therefore recognizes that only God’s mercy can be the basis and foundation of his salvation, not his works.
Again, of course, we should not take this to the other extreme, as if good works are unimportant or as if we should commit more sins so that grace may abound. Of course not. But we should remember that this is also a warning about our achievements. Achievements are good things. Yet the irony and problem is that we can become blinded by them. We may reach a point where we no longer look to God as the one who has given and granted these good gifts, but instead become focused on the gifts themselves and on our own good works. Even worse, in our arrogance, we may begin to regard these things as the basis of our salvation.
This is ironic because in many places in the Bible, we are told that we should grow in maturity. We should, of course, do good works and obey God. But here we are reminded not to let our achievements or good works become an idol and the basis of our salvation. It is important to recognize this because, in one sense, it is an achievement to not become an adulterer or an extortioner, just as fasting and giving tithes regularly are also good things. But we should remember that it is God who enables us to do these things in the first place. Otherwise, if we think that they are simply the result of our own doing, of course, we will begin to look at others with contempt.
If we truly understand that it is God himself, by his Holy Spirit, who enables and helps us to do good works, then there is no ground for pride or arrogance. We must give credit where credit is due. Of course, sanctification involves our own diligence, but unless God enables us, we cannot accomplish these things. This is the failure of the Pharisee, because he now thinks that all these things are the result of his own doing. This is an irony and a problem that can sometimes creep into our lives as we grow in maturity and continue in our Christian life. We can forget who should receive the credit. That is why, in the Reformed tradition, we speak of the five solas, ending with Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone. God is the one who deserves all the praise and glory for the good that we are able to do.
The next contrast is seen in how the tax collector humbles himself. He realizes that he is a sinner, and verse 13 says that the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beats his breast and says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”. As many commentators have pointed out, it is not merely the gesture itself that gives him a right standing before God. Rather, he understands that he depends entirely on God’s mercy and has no ground to exalt himself. He humbles himself, and in that way he is exalted. Here again we see the upside-down nature of the kingdom. As verse 14 teaches, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The Pharisee, by contrast, essentially praises himself. This is not doxology, but self-eulogy. Some commentators even argue that two men went up to the temple to pray, but only one of them actually prayed. The Pharisee merely engages in self-congratulation over all that he has done, while the tax collector truly speaks to God, humbles himself, and pleads for mercy.
Why is there such a great difference between them? I think the key is that when we pray truthfully, we know that we are speaking with the holy God. Whatever our background or our achievements may be, we will realize that we are deficient. We fall short of God’s glory, and what we do does not meet God’s standard. Only through that realization can we truly have humility. But the Pharisee, because he is merely congratulating himself, does not actually speak to God in prayer. He sees only himself. His prayer becomes self-congratulation. He does not truly see God through his prayer.
When we come and speak personally to God, and when we truly see his holiness, only then can we humble ourselves. Otherwise, ironically, we actually end up talking only to ourselves. Why do we pray? When we pray, what do we think about? Do we understand whom we are speaking to? Our understanding of the one to whom we speak shapes how we approach him, whether in humility or in self-exaltation. The Pharisee sees only himself. He does not truly see God in his prayer. That is why his prayer becomes merely self-congratulation.
But if we truly see God and his holiness, we are brought to humility, because we know that we are sinners who do not meet his standard. How is our prayer life? In our genuine prayer life, do we actually see that God is holy? Does that reality truly humble us so that we realize our need for his mercy? How much do we understand that we need forgiveness for our sins? How much do we understand that we need to rely on Him? It is a matter of whether we are truly speaking to God or simply talking to ourselves. Unless we know that in prayer we are speaking to God, our prayer can become nothing more than self-congratulation.
This is the warning here, and hopefully it will help and guide us in how we should grow in knowing our God and his holiness. It should lead us to seek his salvation and mercy. This is the warning that Jesus himself gives to us. Jesus came into this world to die for sinners, for those who truly need justification and a right standing before God. We cannot achieve that right standing through our own good works. (T.F.L.)