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9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” ~ Luke 18:9-14
Today's text begins with another parable of the Lord Jesus spoken for the benefit of the religious. Most people when asked, "Why should God let you into His heaven?" respond with: "I'm a good person. My goodness out weighs my badness." The religious think good people go to heaven and bad people go to Hell. Morality wins the favor of God, so they think.
In this story, we have the Pharisee, who was the epitome of the religious guy earning God's favor through his moral choices. He is as good as it gets. He is the poster child for religion. The problem is he can not be good enough to merit God's acceptance. The problem with self-made men is they tend to worship their creator.
The self-confessed sinner, on the other hand, is as bad as it gets. He is the most despised of all outcasts, and yet, he is the one of whom the Lord Jesus said, "this man went to his house justified.” That idea to a Jew in the Judaism of that day would have been met with outrage, and it was.
Now remember, the subject of the Lord Jesus' teaching to that point had been the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus taught: “The kingdom of God is within you.” His point is that His presence is what makes the sinner holy and acceptable before God. But, religion teaches that we can be good enough somehow by our morality to be made right before God.
To be "justified" is to be treated as righteous. It means to be declared guiltless, forgiven, and cleared of all charges. And, that it is necessary for someone to enter into God's kingdom. We have to be forgiven, we have to be declared not guilty. Religion says we can achieve it on our own, and Scripture says we absolutely cannot.
In v.10-12 we read, "10 Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get."
Five times in v.11-12 the Pharisee refers to himself, a clear indication of whom he worshiped. He asked God for absolutely nothing because in his eyes, he needed nothing from God. He affirmed his own righteousness. In fact, he highlighted his fasting and giving. Even though he had a corrupt heart and wicked thoughts and wicked intentions, he thought he was good before God.
In v.13, we read, "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner."
In the Middle East, one of the ways that people prayed was to put their hands over their chest and put their eyes down. This was a posture of humility, crossing the hands, bowing the eyes. But this man goes beyond that. He places his hands on his chest, his eyes down, he begins to turn his hands into fists and pound his chest rapidly and repeatedly. This was a gesture that was used to express the most extreme sorrow and anguish. There's only one other place in the Bible where this happens: it was at the cross of Christ when He died.
Tax-collectors were the most hated people in Israel. They were the most defiled. They were, in the eyes of the people, the farthest from God. And it wasn't just their profession that bothered people, it's how they carried it out. They were corrupt. And so this is the worst sinner the Lord Jesus can portray in this brief story.
The Tax-collector stood a considerable distance away because he knew he didn't deserve to be in the presence of God or even the presence of those who were righteous. He knew he was a sinner and he had no right to be near God.
"He was unwilling to lift up his eyes to God." Contrary to the Pharisee, who was happy to stand with arms up, open-faced, looking to God, assuming and manifesting that he would certainly be acceptable before God, this man was overwhelmed with his guilt and shame. He knew he was unworthy. He felt the weight of his sin and he was broken.
The difference between these two was the honesty of the Tax-collector. Notice his words in v.13, "Be merciful to me." The Greek verb used here is hilaskomai, which means to propitiate or to make satisfactory. This man who had made some really bad decisions was brutally honest about his condition. He asked God to be propitious to him. That is to say, "God, please apply your atonement to me."
He understood the scripture which read, "the wages of sin is death," and "the soul that sins it shall die." He was saying, "I am a wretched sinner. I am unworthy to stand near you. I am unworthy to look up toward you. I am in profound agony and anguish over my wretchedness. I need atonement for my sinfulness."
The self-righteous pride of the religious prevented him to experience the embrace of the all loving God of the Bible, because his self-righteous pride had separated him from God. Atonement was worthless to this self-righteous religious man.
The difference? The broken-hearted Tax-collector experienced the all loving embrace of the God of the Bible because he acknowledged his deep need and embraced the atonement of God. He pleaded with God to apply to him His atonement. He knew he could not bridge this mighty gap. He knew only God could remedy his problem.
As a result, he was instantaneously made perfect before God for the righteousness of God was credited to him. This is what happens when we confess our sin to God and receive the free gift of salvation from God through the death of His Son.
