PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND TAX COLLECTOR: LUKE 18:9-14

verse 9  Who were the “some?” This parable continues to have application to Christians. The identification of the audience is kept purposely vague by Luke, who “wanted his Christian readers to know that they were equally in danger of the failure it depicts.” (Snodgrass)  Luther preached 13 different sermons based on it. This verse lays out the two-fold meaning to this parable in advance. The main morals from this story are (a) the contrast between self-righteousness and spiritual humility and (b) condemnation of those who show disdain toward others.

verse 10  “Going up” refers to the temple altar.

 “Perhaps no aspect of interpretation illustrates the importance of historical background more than [this] parable.” (Grant Osborne)

The tax collector had either contracted out with the government to collect various taxes at a set fee while he could pocket any additional money he managed to get, or he was an underling hired out to do the actual collection (like today's repo man). We are so used to viewing Pharisees in a negative light, it is almost impossible for us to realize the utter shock this parable would have caused for his audience. Ellis calls this the parable of the Churchman and the Politician. But I would go even farther in trying to get us into the right mindset. What if, as we read this story, we instead try to imagine the Pharisee as Billy Graham and the tax collector as Charles Manson. Do that and you will get a small idea of the impact this parable must have had on the original audience.

verse 11a There are two textual readings with equal evidence on each side:

1. “having stood, these things he prayed to himself” (NASB)

2. “Having stood to/by himself, these things he was praying” (TEV, NIV, NRSV)

The first possibility can also be translated as “he prayed about himself.” (Fitzmyer, HSB) “He glances at God, but contemplates himself.” (Plummer) “He thanks God for what he is, not for what God is.” (Darby)

The second possibility may indicate his unwillingness to become ritually contaminated by others or that he took up a prominent position. (NBC) The unclean had to stand in the Eastern Gate. The Pharisee stood at a distance to avoid becoming contaminated by them. Or the Pharisee probably moved to the front of the Court of Israel.

And finally due to the great uncertainty regarding the word “himself,” NEB leaves it out entirely

verse 11b   The Pharisee “was using other people as his standard for measuring righteousness...On the other hand, the tax collector used God as his standard.” (J. A. Martin)

verse 12a The Pharisee fasted much more than was required. This is the first historical reference to anyone fasting twice a week. But that fact is confirmed in the early first century Christian writing (Didache 8:1): “Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on Mondays and Thursdays, but you fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.”

verse 12b  He also exceeded the required tithe. That has been explained in two different ways. It may mean that he tithed on all his purchases, whether or not that item had already been tithed by its previous owner. Or it may mean that he tithed on all his income, not just on those required by law: livestock and crops such as olive oil and wheat. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” -- Matthew 23:23

verses 11b-12 The Pharisee's self-righteousness is shown by his five-fold use of “I, my.” “What may have started as legitimate affirmation that he has kept the covenant has detoured into disdain and self-congratulation.” (Snodgrass)   I need to remind myself of this every time I drive to church and pass people outside jogging. Some people feel that the picture of the Pharisee is an unfair caricature, but first consider the prayer of at least 1,000-2,000 years ago which required all Jewish men to recite daily and which starts in a similar manner: “Thank you God, that I am not a woman, a Gentile, or ignorant.” And many orthodox Jews continue to recite it today. It is recorded in the Talmud that one rabbi stated that if the saved only numbered “a hundred, I and my son are among them; and if only two, they are I and my son. (Dictionary of NT Theology, 3, 161)

Many sources attest to the belief that the Pharisees possessed superior righteousness. Look at the testimony from one ex-Pharisee: “as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:4ff)

Snodgrass quotes one commentator as saying, “the modern-day counterpart of the Pharisee would be welcomed into any respectable community, religious or social, and given a responsible position. It is surprising how much egotism and rigorous devotion will be tolerated if a person is just and clean-living and gives of her or his substance.”

verse 13  “At a distance” may mean in the Court of the Gentiles. (Marshall) “The Pharisee's posture is described briefly while his prayer is long; the tax collector's prayer is brief, but his posture is described at length.” (Snodgrass)  As far as their relative posture, look at what Ezra said in 9:6: “I...fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God, and said, 'O my God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you (as was the normal posture), my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.'”

“He asked for God's mercy because mercy was the only thing he dared to ask for.” (T. W. Manson)

verse 14 Some scholars suspect that this verse did not belong to the original setting. However, there are verbal clues tying it together with the parable such as “went up” (v. 10) and “went down” (v. 14a). Also, “this tax collector” in v. 11 and “this one” in v. 14a. They show that the explanation at the end is original. (Snodgrass)

verse 14b: The passive verbs (justified, humbled and exalted) point to God as the one doing the act.  “justified” = acquitted.

The final comment is the same as 14:11.

The Pharisees would have demanded that the tax collector make monetary reparations first, but look at Zacchaeus who returned money after Jesus accepted him. (Marshall)

Verse 14b generalizes the teaching to Christian disciples as well. “There undoubtedly remains in everyone more than a little of the Pharisee.” (Fitzmyer)

So what was the Pharisee's main problem that resulted in his being humbled by God? Notice that the Pharisee expresses his righteousness in terms of the bad things that he hasn't done and then in terms of the good things he has done. Unfortunately, he left out the bad things he had done and the good things he hadn't done.

(Fitzmyer) “Righteous acts without compassion and love are not considered righteous by God.” That is taught even in the OT “Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered...but they shall die.” Ezekiel 33:13.

The Pharisees were following God's requirements laid out in Deuteronomy 10:12 to love God and keep His commandments. But they ignored much of the teachings of the later prophets.

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)  The New Oxford Annotated Bible explains that this verse summarizes a century of brilliant prophecy. Similarly, if you look again at James' summary (in 1:27) of God's requirements, they include both remaining unstained by the world and being sensitive to the needs of others.

“Confidence about God precludes confidence in God. This is the fatal misunderstanding of all 'merit' religion.” (Ellis)   But I would extend that idea to those like the “name it, claim it” believers who are not at all works-oriented but who have an attitude that I have actually heard and read from some of them: “God has to do such and such for me...because I found a verse in the Bible that I am going to hold Him to.”

However, for those who maintain the attitude of the sinful tax collector, “Every moment before God is an opportunity to have life determined by the future rather than by the past.” (Manson)

Gordon Fee tells the story of a Sunday school teacher who presented an excellent lesson on this parable and then closed in prayer, saying “Thank you, Lord, that we are not like the Pharisee in the story.”