A Self-Righteous Prayer

“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’” (Luke 18:10-12)

Yesterday we saw that Jesus spoke this parable to those who were self righteous. The contrast of the two men is easily seen in the story.  The Pharisee was a strict keeper of the law of Moses along with all its traditions and additions.

The publican was a despised tax collector who was employed by the Roman government to collect taxes from the Jews to give to the Romans, under whose rule and authority the Jews were living at this time.  The publican was considered a traitor to his fellow Jews.  He could collect any amount of revenue he desired as long as the Roman government got its part. Anything above the government’s part was allowed to be kept by the publicans. It was a corrupt system.  Consequently, the publicans were despised by the Jews.

Jesus described the Pharisee’s prayer as “prayed thus within himself.”  In his prayer the Pharisee wanted to make sure that God saw how much better he was with all his good deeds than the publican, who by the Pharisee's estimation, had no good deeds. The Pharisee saw the publican as an extortioner, an unjust adulterer.

More to come tomorrow.