ARTICLE – 27 November 2016
Tax collectors of taxes were despised for their collusion with Rome. This hatred was particularly intense in Judea, which was under direct Roman control. A visiting Galilean with a reputation for association with tax collectors might well have been suspected of disloyalty, in some minds even for paying the tax. It is important to note that Jesus was concerned to the lawfulness and not the amount, of the tax. The evil was not in its quantity but in its quality for taxation was a painful symbol of conquest. Jewish labor enriched a distant idolater and his local military representatives. Jesus chose to select the tax collector Matthew to be one of His 12 disciples.
The Pharisees are generally depicted as opponents of Jesus, critical of His behavior, hostile in their questions, malicious in their deliberations. In turn, their piety is attacked as hypocritical, their spiritual leadership is declared bankrupt and they are charged with leading the nation to its doom. It is interesting to note that Saul (later Paul) was a prominent Pharisee who led the viscous persecution of the early Church. He was converted/called to be the special person used by God to spearhead the early Church in phenomenal growth especially among the Gentiles Christians.
Jesus taught his disciples and the people in many different parables. This was the way teaching was done in those times because the people will remember the pictorial images given in the parables. One of the parables Jesus used was to link the Tax collector and the Pharisee – both disliked by the people – coming to God in prayer. The record in Luke 18:9-14 is simple enough to not require much comment: To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone 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 by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people – 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.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted”.
To be justified before a holy God you know full well which attitude of prayer your must have. God always will humble the proud with their: “I am not like other people“. He will always give grace to those who come to Him poor in spirit and in humility declare: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner..”
