Sermon preached 16 August 2026
Reading: Luke 18:9–14
Tr Pastor Lawrence McCatty
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”Luke 18:9–14
First Lesson: 2 Samuel 12:1–13 · Psalm of the Day: Psalm 32 · Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15:1–10
Two Worshippers Come to Pray
Context
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem for the last time. And as “he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee” He healed ten lepers who had come to Him crying “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” He then taught the Pharisees and His disciples about the Kingdom of God and when it will come, and in the first few verses of this chapter that our text is taken from, He taught them the need for prayer through the parable of the Persistent Widow.
Who the parable is directed to
And now we hear Jesus using a parable to teach those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt”. The ‘holier than thou’, the self-righteous who look down on others.
The Characters
To illustrate His parable Jesus contrasts two characters, a Pharisee and a Tax Collector, who both go to the temple to pray but that’s where the similarity ends.
In Jewish culture these two could not have been more different.
Among the Jews the Pharisees were considered shining examples of holy living and religious devotion, while tax collectors were seen as dishonest men and collaborators with the Romans, the oppressive enemies of the people.
The Pharisee
The Pharisee stands by himself. He has separated himself not because he believes himself to be unworthy but because he considers everyone else unworthy. He begins to pray by thanking God, but from what follows it becomes clear that he isn’t really thanking God, he’s thanking and congratulating himself!
He tells God, and anyone in earshot, that he’s so much better than other people, after all he isn’t a sinner like those adulterous unjust men who steal like that tax collector over there.
Rather than acknowledging his sins and thanking God for all He has done for him, the Pharisee tells God of the great things he has done. He fasts twice a week and he gives tithes on everything.
According to God’s law only one day a year was prescribed for fasting – the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). But the Pharisees made fasting their “speciality” and believed that fasting every Monday and Thursday established their holiness beyond any doubt.
So this Pharisee thinks himself to be extra special for he fasts not just the one prescribed day a year but twice a week.
And he boasts about giving “tithes of ALL I get”. Under the old covenant the Jews gave tithes as God commanded in Leviticus (27:30,32), Numbers (18:21-24), Deuteronomy (12:6,11) but certain exemptions were made, for example, smaller herbs that were grown were not included (Luke 11:42). But the Pharisees were special so denied themselves these exemptions. The Pharisee in our parable therefore boasts that he had tithed absolutely everything.
Surely no one can condemn such an upright and virtuous life. Who dare say that fasting is not good, or that giving more than a portion of what you have to the temple is a bad thing?
So in tithing and in fasting he claimed to have earned extra credits with God.
The Tax Collector
Contrast this with the tax collector. Like the Pharisee, he came to pray, like the Pharisee he stood apart from everyone else. Not because he was better than them, but because of his guilt and shame
And because he believed himself to be unworthy, he was “standing far off” away from the temple sanctuary, the “Holy of Holies”.
He says nothing of fasting, nothing of his good works. His prayer is short and simple:
“God be merciful to me, a sinner!”
“God be merciful to me, a sinner!”
All while he was praying the weight of his sins mean he cannot even lift his eyes up from the ground, he beats his chest in the pain and anguish of shame, in contrition and penitence.
LAW
The Pharisee measured his supposed righteousness by comparing himself to others, “I am not like other men”, he says. He failed to use the ONLY right standard to judge himself by – the Word of God.
And using that Word we see that the Pharisee breaks all the commandments as summarised by Our Lord Jesus in Matthew’s gospel (22:37):
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”Matthew 22:37–40
The Pharisee doesn’t love God with his whole heart, soul and mind. He loves himself.
He doesn’t love his neighbour as himself. He has contempt for his neighbour, the tax collector.
“I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”
“… or even like this tax collector”.
He shows his spiritual arrogance and lack of love for his neighbour that go hand-in-hand with his self-righteousness.
Paul warns the Galatians against such people:
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.Galatians 6:2-3
The Pharisee had deceived himself that he had no sin to confess and to ask forgiveness for. He justified himself and pronounced himself free of sin in the sight of God. (cf. Romans 3:23)
And there is a warning for us in Jesus’ parable.
While we like to see ourselves as humble and penitent, but too often we are the Pharisee and not often enough the tax collector.
When we judge others for how they look, or the jobs they have, or for the mistakes they’ve made.
When we think we’ve done enough for God because we managed to turn up for church.
When we make someone feel bad because we are just sooo good.
When we congratulate ourselves because our life looks much better than someone else’s messy life.
See how even though the tax collector stood far off, the Pharisee still managed to pick him out for a special dose of scorn.
Martin Luther wrote about this parable:
“If I exalt myself a finger’s breadth above my neighbour, or the vilest sinner, then I am cast down. For the tax collector during his whole life did not do as many and as great sins as this Pharisee does here.”
GOSPEL
The tax collector acknowledges his sin and his unworthiness. He knows from Scripture that God promises to forgive all those who fear Him and know they are unworthy, that there is nothing they can do apart from God. He comes in the hope that God the loving Father will forgive him.
As we heard in our Psalm of the Day earlier:
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.Psalm 32:1–2, 5
He holds on to these promises in faith, and this is credited to him as righteousness, as we hear from Christ’s judgement in verse 14 of our text:
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.
Christ’s judgement
The tax collector went home justified before God.
Justified! God pronounces a verdict of acquittal as a judge does in a courtroom, “Not condemned! Innocent! Free and rid of all guilt and punishment!” The opposite is condemnation.
And on what grounds does God pronounce this verdict?
It is entirely and solely on the payment made for sin, the atonement.
And who provided this payment, who atoned for us?
God Himself through Jesus Christ! His grace did not demand that sinners earn their own justification. His grace pardons sinners freely and fully.
The Pharisee did not see sin in himself, after all he had done more than God’s law required, so he trusted in himself, in his self-righteousness. He had blinded himself to the gospel promises of the Old Testament, and rejected God’s pardon, so remained under the condemnation of his sins.
If righteousness, justification before God, could be achieved through the law then Christ’s suffering and death were for nothing, and God is a liar.
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.Galatians 2:21
The Pharisee, of all people, should have known this, as a dedicated student of the Old Testament.
Paul, the most famous of Pharisees, studied the Old Testament zealously in his former life as Saul the Pharisee. We clearly hear the Old Testament gospel promise in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth in today’s Epistle Lesson:
“3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”1 Corinthians 15:3–4
When Paul says “in accordance with the Scriptures”, he is saying “as the Old Testament clearly shows”
And though the tax collector was conscious of his great guilt before God’s eyes, he turned in humble faith to God and His promised pardoning grace that he knew from the Old Testament. The penitent tax collector was justified by faith in the coming Redeemer, we are justified by faith in the Redeemer who has come.
God exalted the penitent and faithful tax collector, he raised him to the position of a cherished son and assured heir of heaven.
And through the faith we have received in the Saviour, the Redeemer who has come, we are raised with Him through His Resurrection and our baptism, as a righteous and justified child of God, a blessed brother and sister of Jesus Christ.
Come to your loving Father in humble prayer, come to the Lord’s Table, in the knowledge that you are forgiven and that He has done it all for you and to receive that forgiveness in a very personal way as you receive his body and blood given and shed for you. His grace is sufficient.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen