Each week, Moravians across the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean share a common message through their Sunday bulletins. This month, we share insights which expound on Luke 18:9-14. Thanks to writers past and present for their contributions to the Moravian bulletin series.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Luke 18:9-14 (NRSV)
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Give Me Again the Joy
Bob Peterson, retired pastor, Reidsville, North Carolina • October 23, 2022
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector, both of whom went to the temple to pray. Jesus shocked his original Jewish audience with this teaching. They expected that the Pharisee, a prominent leader in their community, would be lifted up by Jesus as the hero—the one they should strive to emulate. Likewise, they were sure that the tax collector, who betrayed his fellow Jews by working with the hated Roman conquerors, would be the villain and fall short of God’s approval.
But Jesus has a way of turning common conventions upside down: the last shall be first, the humble shall be exalted. In this parable the Pharisee was blinded by pride, believing his accomplishments and his social standing made him right with God. He did not understand that a true worshiper must humble himself before God, relying only on God’s great mercy. The tax collector knew himself to be a sinner and that his only hope of salvation was to prostrate himself at God’s feet.
How often today do we fall into the same trap as the Pharisee? We believe we are justified by our good works and neglect to search our hearts, acknowledge our sins, and plead for God’s forgiveness.
The psalmist wrote:
I have sinned against you—only against you—and done what you consider evil.
So you are right in judging me;
You are justified in condemning me. . . .
Create a pure heart in me, O God,
and put a new and loyal spirit in me. . . .
Give me again the joy that comes from your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. (Psalm 51:4, 10, 12)
The tax collector understood this. May we, like him, experience the joy of God’s forgiveness.
Praying in Public
Martha E. Griffis, Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania • October 27, 2019
Today’s passage has Jesus telling the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee, full of his own perceived goodness in the sight of the law, was shown at a great disadvantage. The tax collector, understanding the level of his sin, prayed for mercy. Jesus cautioned that all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
One Sunday, after the congregation had just finished saying a prayer of confession, a young man sitting next to me in choir asked, “Why is this prayer so awful? I don’t think I’m that bad.” I suggested that the prayer may seem to be a bit over the top because sin is so insidious. He asked what that meant. I said that we cannot avoid sin, “For example: do you know where your blue shirt was made? Are you sure it was not made in some sweatshop in Asia? What about driving five or more miles faster than the posted speed limit because you didn’t want to be late for Sunday school?”
He asked incredulously, “You know about that?” “I’ve done it myself. We think it’s okay because it seems like a good reason. This is the slippery slope into sin, usually when we provide our own understanding to our thoughts and actions. We ask for God’s forgiveness because we cannot avoid sin completely.” Every time we say a prayer of confession, I think of this person and his question.
Jesus wants us to be genuinely humble, understanding that without Jesus’ death and resurrection, without the grace of God, we would be totally lost to sin. My personal pattern for prayer is this: Praise God, thanksgiving, confession, request, and praise God again.
Two Men and Me
Stephen Gohdes, pastor, Christ Moravian Church, Calgary, Alberta • October 23, 2016
Over the years at various times in life I’ve wanted to come to grips with why I’m attracted to the message of Jesus. I’ve come to find that I like the home-spun stories and parables that resonate with my life story and the learning parables I’ve experienced. I gravitate to the healing events, the mystery events, and the teaching moments that captivate my attention and speak to my inner curiosity in life. However, time and again I find myself drawn into the journey of Jesus because he rubs shoulders with the most broken, fragile, undone, messy people in his path. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is kind and grace-filled and compassionate enough to want to reach out to some who were “confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.” Why would he waste his time with them? And then I ask myself, “Why would he waste his time with me?”
I find myself drawn to both of the characters who are central to the parable. How many times has my ego pressed me to want to exult in myself, my accomplishment, my success…only to feel as the text suggests. The Pharisee seems so alone, so empty, so distant from others. The text doesn’t have to elaborate on the Pharisee’s experience. I know only too well how lonely he really must be.
On the other hand, how many times have I wanted to sit next to this tax collector as he slides into the church pew. No blustering, no pompous fanfare, no moral superiority; simply an open soul willing to face his own issues, his own shame, his own guilt, and his own need. His words offered in prayer shower over me, and I want to make them my own: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
As a boy, my heroes were the sports stars who commanded attention through their athletic abilities. I’ve changed as I’ve aged. My heroes now are the humble, those I’ve met or known who have served, loved, taught, healed, prayed, visited, cooked, sewed, sweated, and more—with no fanfare, applause, crowds, or notice—only an exalted place before God.
Two men at prayer
Gary Straughan, pastor, Daggett Moravian Church, Daggett, Michigan • October 27, 2013
Did you hear the one about the publican and the Pharisee?” asks Jesus. Today, it might be, “Did you hear the one about the theologian known as the pillar of the community and the drug pusher on the corner?” Or “the person who is seen as a moral leader in the community and the person who is the largest shareholder in the big-box store that is responsible for driving the local shopkeeper out of business?” Name your own pair of hypothetical opposites: those who stand for purity and those who seem to be a part of a godless culture; those obviously righteous folks (just ask them and they will tell you) and those who are far from righteous (whether they admit it or not).
The Pharisees: those distinctively religious folks, those hard-working leaders who have plugged away teaching the truth, distinct in their dress and speech, showing integrity in their dealings with people, all in such a way that it testifies to the faith they hold so dear. The publicans: those who give in so easily to the demands of the culture, those who make money off of the misery of others, those whose actions bring about a life devoid of all meaning.
Where do you find yourself in this story? Jesus simply says that one man went home justified and one man didn’t. The key? It can be nothing other than that one of them (the publican) acknowledges his own sin, and the other (the Pharisee) thanks God that he has not sunk to the level of his adversary. The adversarial positions have nothing to with the degree of sin in each principal. Both, like us, are sinners. What sets them apart is the recognition and confession of their own sin. “All who humble themselves will be exalted.”
