20th Sunday After Pentecost
Proper 25, Year C
Luke 18:9-14
Oct. 26, 2025
Today’s Gospel reading starts out with Jesus turning to those around him, using the ancient method of story-telling, by saying, “A Pharisee and a Tax Collector walk into a Temple…” While this parable is no joke, it does have a punchline that is likely to make us squirm a little. The parable Jesus told that day was to his followers–the “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” You might be thinking to yourselves,“What’s wrong with being right?”
Unfortunately, we are too often prone to hearing a story like this with two people in contrast and expect God to pick out a good guy and a bad guy–so we can pick our hero–the one we want to be like. (Because we don’t want to be like “those people.”) But Jesus doesn’t tell stories like that. Jesus tells stories that are intended to give us a jolt, to surprise us, to challenge us, and quite honestly make us think more deeply about who this God is that we claim to worship. The Gospel isn’t intended to make us comfortable, my friends. But it is Good News.
So, we have to cut through the layers of caricature we have placed on these two guys, the Pharisee and the tax collector, to really hear this parable as it was intended for those who were listening to Jesus that day. And “Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt”–verse 9.
It’s the regarding others with contempt that should catch our attention here. We tend to hear the word “Pharisee” and automatically think–oh, that’s the bad guy. But Jesus didn’t think Pharisees were bad guys. And neither should we. “Paul was proudly a Pharisee (Phil 3:5); Nicodemus was a Pharisee (John 3); elsewhere in Luke, friendly Pharisees warn Jesus of plots against him (13:31), and he accepted the hospitality of Pharisees (14:1). Gamaliel, who in [Acts] urges caution before condemning Jesus’ followers, was a leading Pharisee (Acts 5).”1
Pharisees were actually very committed to preserving the religious identity of the Hebrew faith especially at a time when the Jewish people were trying to survive under Roman occupation. In the first century Judean scene, they were the good guys. “You should assume that a typical Pharisee was someone that you’d want to be like. And for that matter if you attend a church regularly…it’s how some other people see you regardless.”2
Now, the problem is, for us and for the Pharisee, when our serious commitment to our faith leads us sideways and we become pompous, self-satisfied, and self-righteous. There’s a big difference between righteousness and self-righteousness. And I think all of us here today might agree that our world is rife with self-righteousness and pretty sparse on righteousness. This parable is about understanding ourselves. Which is the point of most, if not all, of Jesus’ parables. We point fingers at others and we do not spend as much time on our own self-reflection.
When we look at the tax collector, we figure he’s supposed to be the good guy but Jesus’ followers would not have seen it that way. We also might think of the tax collector as an outcast. But tax collectors weren’t true outcasts. They were unpopular, for sure, but they had wealth and power that was obtained by exploiting their fellow Jews and the vulnerable, and folks were suspicious of them because they collaborated with the Roman overlords. In today’s context, the tax collector was the ICE agent. The typical tax collector was despised as a wealthy crook, an oppressor, often violent, and not at all pitiable. No one listening to Jesus would have had much sympathy for the tax collector and were probably offended Jesus even mentioned him. So, I think you can see how this parable was intended to unsettle its hearers.
Let’s go back to the beginning of the parable. Two guys walk into a Temple to pray. Jesus is talking directly to those who regarded themselves as righteous but looked on others with contempt. Jesus’ focus is on the contempt. He is not excusing any horrible thing the tax collector had done over the years, but draws our attention to what is in our hearts.
In the parable this Pharisee is self-righteous. (Let me remind you Jesus is not saying all Pharisees are self-righteous.) He represents the symbol of those who may be faithful and dedicated to their religion, but have strayed into believing they are above the rest. He gives thanks to God for his righteousness but believes it is by his own effort, his own display of how good he is, that makes him justified before God. “God, I thank you that I am not like other people…” We might even be tempted to think that about others in our own community. “How seductive it is to trust in ourselves that we are righteous and to regard others with contempt”. 3
In this parable, this tax collector isn’t acting like a tax collector. Tax collectors were often violent thugs but here we see one showing up in a place of prayer with sorrow, truly repentant over his actions. He is weeping. We are not at all accustomed to seeing violent thugs weeping in the house of God. This part of the parable is unsettling, too. I wonder what we would do if one walked into our church to pray.
A man who showed no mercy to others now finds himself in need of mercy. He will not get that from the religious one. But he is asking God for mercy and probably knows no one else will be willing to show mercy to him. This is the dramatic surprise in the parable. But here’s the thing, God’s mercy should surprise all of us. It does not comply neatly with our prejudices. And how in need of mercy we are.
We want to pitch these two guys against each other and come up with a hero. We want a winner and a loser. But neither one is a winner. And, much to the dismay of those around him, Jesus eats with both Pharisees and tax collectors alike. No one is above another’s sin. Jesus eats with sinners. Jesus eats with us. We want Jesus to be on our side, but Jesus does not choose sides. Everyone is invited to his table. Not all will sit down, though, because of who they may have to sit next to.
“Luke does not say that Jesus spoke ‘to some who were not sure how to judge Pharisees and tax collectors or their modern equivalents’ but ‘to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.’ Wherever and however we are tempted to put people in boxes, God will surprise us.”4 There is no denying that the tax collector and violent thugs today have done wrong, and have given themselves to evil practices. But if one realizes their depravity and returns to God, asking for mercy, that one in true sorrow and repentance will go home justified in God’s eyes, even if not ours. And those holding tight to their contempt, unable to show mercy, will not be justified by their outward acts of righteousness.
Jesus challenges us to avoid trusting in our own efforts at being good enough for God or needing to be right all the time, but rather, to humble ourselves before a merciful and loving God. True repentance requires a change of behavior.
One of the apostles was a former tax collector, he had to take a 180 degree turn from his current path and actions. In the TV series, The Chosen, Peter is aghast that Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of the apostles. And Peter refuses to accept Matthew, makes sure Matthew knows how much he detests him because his family suffered under Matthew’s corrupt practices. It isn’t until Peter has to confront his own sinfulness, his own selfishness and not-so-pure behavior that he realizes the only way to truly be one with Christ, was to repent himself. And learn to love Matthew. Both have to make restitution for their wrong doing. Both come to terms with how they have played into the hands of evil forces and fall into God’s mercy with true conviction. Cleansed of the sin of contempt and one cleansed of the sin of getting their wealth off the backs of the poor and vulnerable, justified when they realize their need for mercy.
True repentance almost always, when possible, requires making amends and reparations. It’s more than just being sorry. This tax collector must have realized the depths to which he had plummeted and the harm he had caused so many because he could not even bring himself to go all the way into the Temple, or even look up. He was beating his breast, weeping, acknowledging his sin, and asking God for mercy at the threshold.
The reason the tax collector went home justified is because he returned to God. God saw the repentance of his heart and God is always longing, no matter how depraved, for ALL of us to be in a restored relationship with God and with each other. The Kingdom of heaven is like a banquet where the human beings created by God yet treated like vermin sit down and share a feast with those who persecuted them. The whole purpose of Jesus’ incarnation, resurrection, and ascension, is that no matter how nefarious, there be a pathway to restoration. This should be our daily prayer.
Jesus is checking us on our contempt, our self-righteousness, our scorn of others. He is not excusing evil and corrupt actions–but pointing out that the contempt we carry in our hearts can be just as damaging to ourselves and to our relationship with God as the evil deeds of a tax collector. It is in humility that we approach God. It is belief in a love so great that God will welcome home any who repent and turn away from evil–and know in the depth of their bones their need for mercy. As it says in Paul’s letter to Titus, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.
- Andrew McGowan. Andrew’s Version: Thoughts on the Revised Common Lectionary. “A Pharisee and a Tax Collector Walk into the Temple…” ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Laura S. Sugg. Feasting on the Word, Year C. ↩︎
- Andrew McGowan. Andrew’s Version: Thoughts on the Revised Common Lectionary. “A Pharisee and a Tax Collector Walk into the Temple… ↩︎
Magdalena's Musings 