“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about (or “to) himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men- robbers, evildoers, adulterers- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” Luke 18:9-13
The Pharisee, in striving after legalistic righteousness, became totally fixed upon his own achievements. Notice how his prayer was mostly about what distinguished him from other people- or what he perceived “set him apart” or made him holy. This man was fixed upon a skewed definition of holiness- that the primary purpose of him following the ways of God was to NOT be like other people.
When we, like the Pharisee in this parable, see Christianity as mostly about saying “no” to sin in order to be different from the world- we end up with our eyes fixed upon ourselves. Jesus implies in the text that when the Pharisee “prayed” in the temple- he was the only one who heard his own prayer- God did not listen! What a foolish idea- that a man would pray to himself!
The tax collector, the sinner, he knew who he was and what he had done. In humility, he barely came into the temple courts and cried out to God for mercy- and God heard him. This man recognized that his way of life was not righteous compared to God’s ways.
All of us, whether there is willful sin manifested in our life or not, are lowly and impoverished compared to God. When we take an honest look, not just at our outward behavior or words, but also the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts, we see that we are not like God- we are not righteous.
The acknowledgment of our spiritual poverty is the beginning of righteousness. Emptying ourselves of ourselves, there is finally space to be filled with His righteousness. A righteousness given us not by our own merit, but by the mercy of God.
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Romans 3:21
