The parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. On its surface this is such a simple parable. The tax collector is humble and recognizes his need for God, so he is good. The Pharisee is arrogant and recognizes only his need for himself, so he is bad. Moral of the story: be humble and you will receive God’s grace. Be arrogant and you won’t. Don’t be like the Pharisee. End of sermon. Or is it?
Since this is a parable told by Jesus you should already be prepared for me to tell you that this parable is far more complicated than how it is often interpreted. It is not the simple moralistic story that it appears to be. To understand the complexity of this parable we need to try as best we can to first get into the mindset of those who would have heard Jesus tell this story in person, his first followers.
So, the first question we have to ask is this: Who were the two main characters in this parable for the first listeners? I’ll give you a modern-day example. If I told you a story about a mobster and a nun, you would come to the story expecting the mobster to be put in the role of villain and the nun in the role of saint. You would be really confused and probably a little put off having the mobster in the role of saint and the nun in the role of villain. Unfortunately, this is not as clear to us as it should be because of centuries of Christian antisemitism in our interpretation of Scripture. Over the millennia, Pharisee has come to equal hypocrite, killer of Jesus, and denier of God’s grace because of an over adherence to law. Pharisee has also come to represent all Jewish people to the average Christian. But this isn’t an historically correct depiction of the Pharisees.
The Pharisees of the first Century were not “legalists” who were trying to earn God’s favor. They were a Jewish movement that emphasized the importance of obedience to the law of Moses. They paid attention to things like rituals for cleaning one’s body or one’s cookware as part of a larger effort to encounter God’s holiness in everyday life. Something I think we all yearn for. For most of Jesus’ audience, the Pharisee would have represented the respected teachers of their community who walked the walk as well as talked the talk.
And the Pharisee of this Parable is no exception. Actually, he does more than your average Pharisee. He tithes a tenth of everything he receives in income, and he fasts twice a week. This is a pious and faithful man. And he has gratitude that he is able to do this. In thanking God, he recognizes that it is God who makes his piousness and faith possible. His only mistake is thinking that he knows to whom God shows mercy and believes that there are some who are outside of God’s mercy.
A tax collector on the other hand would have been despised by most. He would have worked as an agent of the oppressor, the Roman Empire, to collect taxes from his neighbors. The system was notoriously corrupt. As long as this tax collector submitted to Rome the amount of money expected from him, he could collect as much money as he was able to extort from his neighbors. He was an agent of Rome and working against God’s purpose. He was not on the margins of his world. He was right in the middle and getting very rich from his activities. And if you read this passage closely you will notice that at the end of his prayer, he makes no promise to make restitution to those he has harmed or to find another line of work. Maybe he does, but the parable does not tell us. He receives God’s mercy before righting his wrongs. No wonder people were so confused by Jesus’ association with tax collectors. Why would Jesus extend mercy to those who made their living off denying mercy to others? What gives Jesus?
Commentators also disagree about how to translate a key word in this passage. In the New Revised Standard Version, the interpretation we heard read today, the Greek word para in 18:14 is translated as “rather.” This implies that the tax collector was justified by God, but the Pharisee was not. The problem is that this word can just as legitimately be translated as either “because of” or “to set side by side.” The verse would then say the following:
“I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his home justified because of [or] side by side with the other.”
Changes the passage, doesn’t it?
Amy Jill Levine argues for this alternate translation as there is within Jewish thinking the idea that the good deeds of one can save us all. Or to put it another way, Judaism is communal. What a person does affects the entire community not just the individual who does the act. So, the Pharisee’s extreme piousness and faithfulness could actually help to save the tax collector in spite of his dishonesty and greed. Or if we go with “side by side,” God justifies them both. God welcomes the prayers of both. Both men receive God’s mercy.
And I think this is the point of this parable. This parable is not primarily about the tax collector or the sinner or even us. This parable is primarily about the character of God. We humans think we can define God. We think we know the mind of God. But we don’t. We draw lines all the time that put us on God’s side and those we don’t like so much on the other side. Every time we do this, God shows up on the other side of the line from us. This doesn’t mean we are on the outs with God. It just means that God can never be limited by us. God can never be defined by us. God’s love is unlimited. God’s mercy is unlimited. God wants us to understand this, both for our own sake and for the sake of the entire world. How different would the world be if we could truly live with an understanding that God’s mercy is unlimited?
It is hard to live with this understanding. It is almost too big for our heads to hold. God loves really bad people? Yes. God loves people who hurt other people? Yes. God loves people who make bad choices? Yes. It really isn’t my job to figure out who is in and who is out with God? Yes. It really isn’t. So, what is my job then? To love.
I’ll tell you the story of a friend of mine (who by the way would be embarrassed to know I was telling this story about him) who I think demonstrates what I am trying to say. He and I were leading a youth group through New York City. As happens in a large urban area, we encountered a lot of homeless people asking for money. Every time we did, he would hand the person a five-dollar bill. My guess is that by the end of the day he had handed out over a hundred dollars. When we were in the train riding back to Delaware, I had the chance to ask him about his practice. I wondered why he did it and if he thought it did any good. I was concerned that it was actually not the best thing for the receivers of the money as they might spend it on drugs or alcohol. I’ll never forget his response. He said:
I don’t give them the money for their sake, I give it for my sake. I have no idea what they will use the money for. They might buy food. They might buy drugs. It really isn’t my business. What I do know is that I am a very judgmental person and have spent a lot of years having opinions about everyone who is not exactly like me. I thought I knew who God loved and who God didn’t love, and I put myself on the side of receiving God’s love and those I didn’t like outside of God’s love. One day I did something I regretted. Something I considered very sinful. Something I thought put my outside of God’s love. I fell apart and ended up spending a full day in prayer. In the midst of that day of prayer I had a profound realization. I am no better or worse than anyone else on the face of this earth. And if that is true then God loves as all. I give money to anyone who asks as often as I can to help me to remember this essential truth.
“I tell you, this man went down to his home justified side by side with the other.” Luke 18:14. Amen.
