Upside-Down Christmas: Luke 18

Luke 18

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Welcome back to our Upside-Down Christmas podcast where we’re looking at the life and teaching of Jesus in the gospel of Luke—one chapter at a time—and we’re seeing how he turns all our expectations on their heads.

In chapter 18, he does this by telling a parable. “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 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!’ 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 18:10-14)

Now, there are a couple of things you need to know for this to make sense. First of all, who or what is a Pharisee? The simple answer is that Pharisees were kind of like a religious order, or a religious group, and their emphasis was on purity and keeping the law of God. So they practiced their religion…well, religiously! The were scrupulous in all their works for God and in obeying all the commandments. So that’s the Pharisees.

Tax collectors—they weren’t just annoying IRS agents or something like that. But instead, they were Jews who were considered by many to be traitors. And they were considered that because they collected taxes not for the kings of Israel, but for the empire of Rome, an occupying force. More than that, many tax collectors had a practice of skimming some off the top. They would calculate people’s taxes at higher rates or whatever, charging them more than they actually owed; and then they would pocket the rest, making themselves rich. So you can see why they are hated.

And if you were to ask who the righteous person was, the obvious answer would be the Pharisee. He says it himself: he’s not an extortioner, an adulterer; he’s active in his church, he tithes. Of course he’s the righteous one!

But Jesus turns this idea on its head by declaring that it’s the tax collector who goes home justified. What’s going on here?

Well, here’s the thing. Luke clues us in before the parable even begins. In verse 9, he writes, He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.

It turns out that the righteous looking Pharisee believed that his works of righteousness were enough to justify him before God. And you’d imagine that the tax collector’s sins would have disqualified him from being righteous in God’s sight. But it turns out things aren’t what they seem on the surface; it seems there’s another law at play underneath.

That law of course is the law of humility. The tax-collector isn’t righteous, but he knows he isn’t righteous. So he doesn’t try to justify himself before God, and he doesn’t look down on others. The Pharisee on the other hand thinks much of himself. He thinks his works are good enough for God, and so he looks with contempt at others. But it’s his very pride that disqualifies him. So the one we expect to go away justified leaves empty handed; but the one we know isn’t justified, he goes away right with God.

God justifies the sinner and sends the righteous away empty handed.

And really what that means for us is that if we find ourselves imagining we’re better than the next guy, if we look around us and complain about all those sinners out there, if we stand back and reflect on all the good things we do and say to ourselves, “Hey, I’m a pretty good Christian” …watch out! Pride is crouching at your door, and you, like the Pharisee, are in danger of trying to justify yourself before God.

But if you know you’re a sinner; if you know that you don’t deserve to be in the presence of God; if you know you’re a screw up; if you know you don’t have it together…the good news for you is that God is eager and ready to receive even the likes of you—because you come in humility, broken hearted over you sin. You too get to go down to your house justified—not because of anything you’ve done, but because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Let’s pray. Lord, have mercy on us, for we are sinners. Amen.

Family Devotional:

Read Luke 18:9-14 together.

Jesus is teaching us about humility versus pride in prayer. God values a humble heart that admits need over a pound heart that boasts about good deeds. EVERYONE needs God’s mercy! God lifts up the humble and brings down the proud. Admitting we need God is better than thinking we’re great on our own.

How does it feel when someone just brags about themselves?

What did the tax collector ask for?

Does God care if we're perfect or just honest?

If you have regular building blocks (NOT legos), have children call out the good things they do. Add a block to the tower each time they say something. Make the tower fall to show how bragging about “goodness” doesn’t make us better. Only God can.