The Publican and
There were some in Jesus' day who "trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others". To them He addressed this parable, and not to them only, for self righteousness is still rife among those who claim to be His true followers, and the lesson is as important as ever. The rigid, bigoted Pharisee of the story has had his counterparts in every generation since that day and has them still. The parable of the Pharisee and publican has a very topical application to us today.
Both men went up to the Temple to pray. They both acknowledged the same Law, at least outwardly, but that is about as far as the similarity went. The Pharisee, accustomed to the respect of men and sure of his standing before God, returned thanks that he was the man he was. He could think of no element in his life capable of change for the better. He was already all that God could possibly want him to be. And he preened himself in the pride of that knowledge. The publican ‑ tax-gatherer ‑ came, conscious only of one thing, his inadequacy in the sight of God. He had come short of the Divine glory; he knew that. He needed forgiveness; he knew that too, and in an agony of self-abasement he pleaded for Divine mercy.
The Pharisee was probably a very good man. There is nothing in the account to say he was not, and the brief picture given us is at least sufficient to show that Jesus intended his hearers to picture the typical orthodox Pharisee. He was zealous for righteousness and the observance of the Mosaic law; bigoted almost to the point of fanaticism in his allegiance to the "traditions of the fathers". He was punctilious in the discharge of every duty which custom and ordinance required of a son of Abraham. He duly fasted on the third and fifth day of every week and took care that his neighbours and business associates knew about it. He rendered the tenth of his income to the things of God as the Law required. Verse 12 should read "I give tithes of all that I acquire" not "possess"; he tithed his income, not his capital. Like the rich young ruler on another occasion, he could say, referring to the Divine Law, "all these things have I kept from my youth up." Unlike that young ruler he did not add "what lack I yet?" for in his own mind he had no idea that anything was lacking. He had done all that God had required of him and now he looked to God to do the handsome thing and acknowledge the fact.
"The Pharisee stood, and prayed thus with himself." There is more than a suspicion here that the man was praying to himself, at any rate God does not appear to be much more than an equal partner in the matter. There is no plea for forgiveness, no acknowledgement of the superior position of the Most High, no supplication for help in leading a better life, or guidance in approaching more nearly to the Throne of God's holiness. In fact it hardly seems a prayer at all, more of a boastful statement of the position. "I thank thee, that I am not as other men are". He wanted to say out loud in the hearing of his fellows that thing which he liked to believe his fellows thought of him. As a Pharisee he was one of God's chosen ones and all others were inferior. One day when Messiah came and the Romans were expelled his superiority would be manifest even more than now, for then he would advance from his present position of moral leadership to actual political leadership and not only Israel but all the Gentiles would bow down before him. After all, he and his brother Pharisees were the present successors of the tradition established in the days of Ezra when the first Pharisees stood in the breach to defend the nation against prevalent indifference to the things of God, and preserved the Law and all that it implied for future generations. It was only right that God should acknowledge the services he and his had rendered Him and honour him accordingly.
Whilst thus he stood and congratulated himself the publican came into the Temple court. He was under no illusion; he knew himself to be unclean in God's sight. He came with nothing in his hands and with nothing wherewith to commend himself in God's sight. His prayer was brief and eloquent in its simplicity. "God be merciful to me a sinner." The Greek has the definite article, the sinner, as though he counted himself a greater sinner than other men, just as the Pharisee had counted himself greater in his righteousness than other men. He asked nothing of God; he came in repentance and threw himself on God's mercy.
And God looked down from Heaven and saw those two men standing there. "I tell you" said Jesus "this man" ‑ the publican ‑ "went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted". We hardly need the comment for ourselves as we read the story, for it seems so obvious. How could anyone justify the Pharisee in his arrogance and count him as more worthy in God's sight than the publican?
And yet, it happens so often among Christians. There is a type of mind which, whilst thoroughly loyal to God, takes pride in its exclusiveness and separation from "the world" and not infrequently from fellow-Christians who do not share the same outlook on the faith or the same conception of Christian service. "Spiritual pride" is a very real thing and an ever-present danger to the disciples of Christ. The very love and zeal for Him which leads us to Him at the first is liable to drive us into an excess of devotion which can bear fruit at the end in an unreasoning and unseeing bigotry which of itself stultifies our further efforts to do Him service. We all do well to remember our Lord's own injunction, "—when you have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do" (Luke 17. 10). The difference between the best of us and the worst of us, great though it may seem in our sight, is very little in God's sight. Repentance and devotion mean much more to him than mighty works and lavish gifts. Jesus commended the scribe who said "to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices". (Mark 21. 33). "Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God" Jesus told that man. The publican in this parable was not far from the Kingdom of God; the Pharisee had not even realised his need of that Kingdom.