Luke 18:9-14 – A Pharisee and Tax Collector at Prayer
This morning we a looking at a well-known parable told by the Lord Jesus, that of a Pharisee and Tax Collector at prayer. To fully understand this story we need to take ourselves back into Jesus' world, the world of first century Palestine.
The temple in Jerusalem was the focus for the worship of the people of God. Twice a day there was a set time of prayers at the temple; once at dawn and once in the afternoon, sometimes known as the time of evening prayers. On these two occasions a sacrifice of a lamb was offered for the sins of the people. After the sacrifice had been made and its smoke ascended, incense would be burnt. And as the smoke of the sacrifice, mingled with incense, ascended the people would offer up their own prayers. Psalm 141:1-2 says this:
I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;
hear me when I call to you.
May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Or again, we read in Luke 1:10 concerning Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist:
He was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside.
So, the cloud of smoke and incense went up and with it ascended the prayers of the people. It was intended to be a powerful picture. Sacrifice for sin opens the way by which a sinful people may approach a holy God. Incense pictures the ascent of the people's prayers which are sweet and acceptable to God.
So when Jesus spoke this parable about two men going up to the temple to pray, his hearers would immediately have pictured all that went on during the times of sacrifice and prayer. These people, like Peter and John in Acts 3:1 had gone up to the temple at the time of prayer, the time of sacrifice, the time of burning of incense.
Here then is the picture: the people are going up to the temple at the time of prayer. Jesus focusses in on just two of them: a Pharisee and a Tax Collector. They are two very different characters. We might expect the Pharisee to be there; he was probably there on every possible occasion. But we might not have expected to find the tax collector there nor did he perhaps expect to find much of a welcome.
They are two very different characters, but in another way they are strangely alike: they both stand apart from the crowd praying in the temple.
The Pharisee at Prayer, vv. 11-12
The Pharisee did not join the crowd in their prayers; he stood by himself and prayed. He does this because he does not consider himself to be one of the crowd; he thinks of himself as being quite different from the common people – "I thank you that I am not like other people…" Even less is he like that tax collector over there. He is scrupulous about his lawkeeping, he fasts twice a week.
The law demanded a fast once a year on the Day of Atonement, but Pharisees fasted twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, taking no food or drink from sunrise to sunset. This amounted to a great act of self-denial, especially in the hot climate of the Middle East. It was regarded as an act of intercession for the sins of the people.
And he gave away a tithe from everything he got – not just from the produce he had grown in his garden or land.
We should realise that those listening to Jesus' story would not have thought that the Pharisee's prayer was arrogant. They would have agreed with him that he was not like other people and they would have seen his prayer as an act of genuine thanksgiving to God that he had been able to devote himself so meticulously to his religion.
And indeed, his prayer does express thanksgiving to God. He recognises that it is God who has enabled him to do all that he has done. But his prayer also betrays his attitude to others, and this is why Jesus told this parable which Jesus introduces in verse 9 by saying:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable…
The Tax Collector at Prayer, v.13
Now let's turn to the tax collector at prayer.
In one sense the tax collector is like the Pharisee. The Pharisee stood apart from the crowd and so did the tax collector. But the tax collector did so for a very different reason.
The crowd themselves were probably not ready to welcome the tax collector among them. He stood at a distance, not identifying with the crowd, standing apart from all that was going on and hardly daring to approach.
There are very few words to his prayer, but they are very significant words, but just as significant is his attitude in prayer. The Pharisee's attitude had been one of superiority. The tax collector would not look up towards heaven; his head was lowered as he beat his breast – a sign of his deep anguish and mourning. And in that attitude he utters his simple but desperate prayer, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
What was going on in the temple as he prayed? Sacrifice had been offered for the sin of the people; smoke from the sacrifice along with incense mingled with the prayers of the people rose towards God, and as this is happening he cries out, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
The words he uses are telling. The word for 'mercy' is connected with atonement and temple sacrifices. Those of you familiar with older versions of the Bible may remember that the cover of the Ark of the Covenant where the blood of sacrifice was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement was called the 'mercy seat'. The Israelites had been taught through the ceremonies of temple sacrifice that the mercy of God was made available to sinners through blood sacrifice – the shed blood of a substitute. And the tax collector had understood this. Here he is in the temple at the time of sacrifice, and as the smoke of incense rises he prays, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
The Pharisee had implied that this tax collector is a sinner – and the tax collector himself has no argument with that. But he understands what the temple ceremony is all about; it's about the mercy of God being made available for sinners. He understands what the Pharisee has failed to understand. So he cries out, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." "Yes," he says, "that's what I am. I've not kept the Law, I admit it. But there is hope for me here."
This, in effect, is his cry, "God, let this atonement be for me, a sinner." He stands apart from the crowd for he hardly dares hope that this can be for him too. He is crying out, "God, I pray that I may have a part in all that is going on here. I pray that this atoning sacrifice may be effective for me, that I may be forgiven and accepted."
Jesus' punchline, v.14
What would the crowds who had been listening to Jesus have made of the story Jesus told?
Well, here comes the punchline, "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted" (v.14).
It was the tax collector who went home justified; vindicated by God; forgiven and accepted. The Pharisee and his so called prayer are not accepted.
What a shock! Jesus is challenging his hearers' view of the world – their view of the kinds of people whom God accepts and those whom he rejects, their view of whom God owns to be his people. They would have thought that the Pharisee would be owned by God, after all, he devoted himself so assiduously to doing all that God required and more. But as for the tax collector, he was beyond the pale.
Jesus turns their perceptions upside down; the tax collector is accepted and the Pharisee rejected. God accepts those who come to him humbly confessing their own need.
The people of Jesus' day had forgotten the meaning of those things that were central to their life as the people of God; the things portrayed so clearly in the temple and its sacrifices. They had forgotten that the only way to find acceptance with God is through God's mercy.
We all stand in the same place, Pharisee and tax collector alike, in need of the mercy and grace of God and of the sacrifice that can atone for our sins.
Jesus is teaching about himself
And so, in closing, I want you to see that Jesus is teaching about himself. He wants those listening to learn about him and to understand his mission – what he came into the world to do.
He has come not to call the righteous (the self-appointed great and the good), but to call sinners to repentance. He has come to show the world the amazing grace of God. He has come not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for sinners.
Jesus came to fulfil all that is pictured in the temple and its sacrifices. He has come to lay down his life as an atoning sacrifice for sin. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
And he is the only way of acceptance with God – the only way to be justified. We cannot come to God commending ourselves, however much we may acknowledge that it is God who has enabled us to be the person we are. We come to him empty handed, having nothing to plead in our defence except that Christ has died for us. He is our only hope. We come like the tax collector crying, "God, have mercy on me a sinner. God, may I have a part in this, in Jesus' final and perfect sacrifice for sin. May I be accepted in him, through him and because of him."
It is those who come to God this way who are accepted by him; we are 'accepted in the beloved' (Ephesians 1:6 AV/KJV).
And this is what we are doing this morning as we come to Communion. We have come confessing our sin and expressing our repentance. And now, as we come to take the bread and the wine we are enacting this prayer, "God, may I have a part in this atoning sacrifice. I believe that it was for me. I humbly and thankfully receive this gift of life, acceptance, justification, which you offer to us freely in the Lord Jesus."
We come to Christ and to this table as the Tax Collector came to the Temple; we come in humility and repentance. But there is also this vital difference; we also come with confidence. Christ has died for us. He is risen for us. He intercedes for us in glory and has promised to bring us safely into his presence that we might share in his glory. In the words of Charles Wesley:
Bold I approach the eternal throne
And claim the crown through Christ my own.
Let us approach the Table in this spirit and with this confidence.
Peter Misselbrook: Christ Church Downend – 14/9/2025