Humbling, a Reflection on Luke 18:9-14

If we read this parable as a comfort to us because we are so much superior in our righteousness than the Pharisee, then we have missed the point. I remember someone saying as she began her path toward ordination, "If they want humble, I can be the most humble."

Jesus is speaking to those--that includes us--who think themselves so righteous that they are contemptuous of others who just cannot measure up to their standard. In describing the Pharisee, Jesus is not telling us that there's sometime wrong with fasting or tithing. Nor is he saying that there is anything wrong with going to a holy place to pray.

Further, Jesus is not saying that the sins of the tax collector are to be emulated.

The Pharisees of Jesus time had teaching similar to this passage from Luke. Allen & Williamson, in Preaching the Gospels give an example:

For instance, Rabbi Gamaliel said, "Do not walk out on the community. and do not have confidence in yourself until the day you die. And do not judge your companion until you are in his place." Rabbi Simeon said, "And when you pray, don't treat your prayers as a matter of routine; but let it be a plea for mercy and supplication before the Omnipresent, the blessed, as it is said, For he is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and full of mercy, and repents of the evil...."

What's wrong is not righteousness but self-righteousness. As Fred Craddock puts it in Preaching through the Christian Year C, "The Pharisee trusts in himself; the tax collector trusts in God: that is the difference."

He then cautions us that the point of the parable is not to think that the tax collector should be proud and thankful that he is not like the Pharisee, and that we shouldn't be either.