The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
This week we’re uncovering the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke 18:9-14. Check out this video as we learn about this week’s Bible study (also available as a podcast!).
This week we are reading through the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14.
We’ll learn this week, that while obedience to the law is commendable, it can set one up to fall into a dangerous trap. It can lead to boasting in one's own righteousness (right-standing with God) as opposed to one who is humble, or not self-righteous and knows they fall short of God’s law. Comparing ourselves to others, to justify our current state, can lead to a false sense of confidence and self-justification in which the work of Jesus Christ is diminished. We can see that play out this week in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
DAY 1 - READ AND REFLECT
Let’s start by reading the full parable in Luke 18:9-14. Re-read the passage, preferably in a different translation to get a clearer perspective on what the passage is communicating.
Keep in mind a parable is a story that parallels a message Jesus was trying to communicate, which would've been more easily understood by the original audience. Without a deep connection to Jewish culture, Jesus’ point is often lost on us. To understand the heart of Jesus’ parables, ask the following questions, and watch as the parables of Jesus come to life!
Who is the audience and how would the original hearer have heard this?
What cultural reference points would the original hearer have known that I miss?
Does the parable have characters and how are they described?
Does the parable have an unexpected ending that highlights the point Jesus was trying to make?
If Jesus were to make this point today, what parable might He tell?
Ask questions as you are reading. Jesus addressed two types of people in this parable. What was He intending to teach? What warnings does Jesus give?
Study Tip: Some words to keep in mind this week as we cover this passage: righteousness, justification, sin, repentance, mercy.
DAY 2 - THE PHARISEE
Jesus told parables to make a point, and for us to best understand the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector we must first know who He was talking to. Read Luke 18:9 in a couple of Bible translations (Tip: Use the YouVersion Bible app for access to numerous Bible translations for FREE). How are those to whom Jesus is speaking described?
In this parable, Jesus doesn’t just talk about Pharisees, He’s speaking directly to them! At that point in HISTORY, Pharisees were seen as the religious elite. They began their ministry in response to concern for the decline in religion at that time and wavering from the laws that God had given.In the Old Testament, there were 613 commands given to Moses from God to the Jewish people. These laws governed everything from what to wear, how to pray, and what to eat in order to preserve sanctification and holiness outside the temple. While everyone failed at keeping the laws, the Pharisees, who were experts of the law, sought for strict observance of them all. They saw their ability to keep the laws as a measure of their righteousness before God. The Pharisees added their own interpretations and expansions of the law to help prevent people from even coming close to breaking a law. Read Matthew 23:4. How did Jesus describe the extra-biblical laws and traditions the Pharisees required the people to follow? Have you ever felt this way?
The Pharisees' original intentions were God-honoring, yet they became so involved in perfectly keeping the law, they forgot what the law was designed to teach them in the first place: their need for a Savior. Though they were moral, they were very proud and received the harshest rebuke from Jesus. Read Matthew 23:23 and Hosea 6:6. How did the Pharisees make the law more important than God Himself? What does God value above sacrifice and why?
What can we learn from the Pharisee in the parable found in Luke 18:9-14 about staying focused on Christ's work instead of our own achievements?
Further Reflection: Read Matthew 23:1-36. What do we learn about Jesus’ view of the Pharisees? What is important to Jesus?
DAY 3 - THE TAX COLLECTOR
Yesterday, we looked back in HISTORY at the Pharisee. Today, let’s get to know the tax collector. At that time, the Jewish people were under Roman rule and Jewish tax collectors would pay a small fee to the Roman government for the privilege to collect taxes from citizens to fund the government. Any amount collected in excess they were free to keep for themselves. This led many tax collectors to increase charges in order to gain more money and even target those who could not pay in order to charge interest (Luke 3:12-13). As a result, tax collectors were despised by their own people. They were considered greedy, dishonest, traitors and placed on the same level as prostitutes and sinners.The tax collectors social status could not get much lower. Surprisingly though, these were the types of people whom Jesus sought to spend His time among, which came with harsh criticism from the Pharisees. Read Luke 18:11. How did the Pharisee view the tax collector?
Standing far off, even the tax collector knew he wasn’t worthy of going to the temple to pray! Read Luke 18:13. How did the tax collector view himself?
Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples, was a tax collector. As soon as Jesus called him, he walked away from his former life and followed Him (Matthew 9:9). Read Matthew 9:9-13. Why did Jesus spend time with tax collectors and sinners?
In our parable this week, before whom did the tax collector humble himself?
DAY 4 - PRAYER
We’ve spent the past two days getting to know the Pharisee and the tax collector - the righteous and the unrighteous. You’d be hard-pressed to meet two groups of people more different from each other and today we get to explore how each prayed drastically different prayers.
The Pharisee - He stood (standing is a common posture for prayer) and thanked God he was not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like the tax collector. He boasted of his good deeds, how often he fasted and how much he tithed. He thought because of his good works his salvation was secure. Truly though he forgot where his security came from. Read Luke 18:11-12. What did the Pharisee rely on to gain righteousness?
The Tax Collector - He kept far off from the crowd, and stood like the Pharisee, but could not bring himself to even lift his eyes toward Heaven, and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13, ESV). Unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector knew of his sins and unworthiness and begged God for mercy (Romans 9:16). Read Luke 18:13. What did the tax collector rely on to gain righteousness?
Who do you relate to the most - the Pharisee or the tax collector?
Up to this point, the Pharisees to whom Jesus was speaking (vs. 9), were likely nodding in agreement. Finally, they could agree with Jesus on something! But Jesus was about to throw them a curveball. Read Luke 18:14. How would what Jesus said next have stunned the Pharisees to whom He told this parable?
Both prayed, but only the unlikely tax collector left justified. He recognized his own sin and unrighteousness and turned to God for forgiveness. In this parable, what does Jesus show us the posture of our heart should be in prayer?
DAY 5 - JUSTIFICATION IN CHRIST
By telling the Pharisees this parable, Jesus was showing them that although they were religious and kept all the laws and were generally good people, they lacked an understanding of God's standard for righteousness. Read Isaiah 64:6. Compared to God’s holiness what are our righteous deeds compared to?
Thankfully, God does not justify one person over another based on one's tedious obedience to the law. Try as the Pharisee might, he truly could not achieve absolute perfection. For additional CONTEXT, read Galatians 2:15-16. How are we justified?
Further Reflection: Using a dictionary, what does “justified” mean?
The law was meant to mirror our need for Jesus and man’s utter incapability of keeping the entire law (remember HISTORY: 613 laws, and more were added later). If we are to be justified by the law, we have to keep every law (James 2:10). It’s not possible. If man could keep every single law, be sinless and obtain righteousness (right-standing) and exaltation before God by his own merit and good works, there would be absolutely no need for a Savior. Read Ephesians 2:8-9. If we were saved by our own works, who would we boast in? If saved by grace, who do we boast in?
In God's grand design, He knew of our fallen state and inability to save ourselves. This is why Jesus was sent on our behalf, to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, fulfill the requirement of the law. Read Romans 8:1-4. No longer under the law, how are “those who are in Christ Jesus" now described?
When one puts their trust and faith in Jesus we are made new creatures in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). When the Father looks on us, He sees not our sins, but Christ’s right-standing that has been attributed to us, which cannot be lost (2 Corinthians 5:21). If we, like the tax collector, acknowledge our sin and unworthiness and bring it before God, He will be merciful to us! He will set us free and do what the law could not.
Contributed by Guest Writer: Josi Rust
List of Parables
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