It’s All About Me (Part III of III)
Luke 18:13 (Jesus speaking), “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 the sinner.’” This tax collector was a tough and hardened individual who had turned against his own people, entering the employ of the Roman Empire, the pagan force that ruled the world. Because of the high taxes he demanded from the people, the tax collector had taken away his fellow citizens’ pleasure in living and had turned life into a burdensome existence. But he was ashamed and embarrassed by his sin so he stood by himself, away from the others praying in the temple. The tax collector could not even bring himself to lift his eyes up to heaven because he felt too sinful to face God. He did lift his heart upward, but not his eyes.
He was a terrible sinner and he knew it. He was so unworthy of the least of God’s mercies and he knew it. He did not deserve God’s forgiveness and acceptance and he knew it. He could not lift up his eyes for he had hurt God too much and he knew it.
The tax collector called himself “the sinner.” He did not feel he was just “a sinner” like everyone else, which would mean he was also as good as everyone else. No, the tax collector insisted he was “the sinner,” the one who had hurt and shamed God more than anyone else; the one who was more undeserving than anyone else of God’ s mercy.
There was nothing good within him, nothing to commend him to God, nothing to make him acceptable to God. The tax collector felt so unworthy that the tension, emotions, and strain burst forth and he beat upon his breast. And then he humbly and sincerely pleaded for God’s mercy upon his soul; God’s forgiveness for his sinful life.
If he was going to be saved by God, God had to accept him simply because he came to God in all the desperation and sincerity of his heart and begged God for mercy and forgiveness. God alone was his hope; and mercy and forgiveness was all he could plead before God.
Luke 18:14 (Jesus speaking), “I tell you that this man (the tax collector), rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
These words of Jesus are contrary to what the world teaches, contrary to the opinions of men, and even contrary to the way many believers act. The scandalous sinner is the one justified in the sight of God.
Certainly, a lifestyle of a tax collector (for the Romans) was as despicable to Jesus as it was to any Jew in Palestine. But the reason this man went to his home justified before God was that he sincerely repented of his sin and he was willing to forsake his sinful life-style. The tax collector’s cries for God’s mercy and forgiveness upon his soul were accepted by God and he is counted righteous before God, by God Himself.
On the other hand, the Pharisee, who was so religiously correct in his attention to rituals, went to his home not justified before God, but condemned. He had not repented of his sins nor recognized his need for divine mercy. To this Pharisee, life was “all about me.”
Even though you claim to be a Christian, are you secretly a self-centered, self-absorbed person whose life is “all about me?” Are you so self-confident about yourself that you have no need or desire for God’s mercy upon your soul?
God rejects those who trust in themselves and their own self-righteousness, and who despise others.
Which person in this parable best describes you – the Pharisee or the tax collector? Your eternal destiny depends on your answer.
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Chris Voss is a pastor at First Christian Church, 317 S. Main, Donna.