Purpose To consider whether ambition or humility is the truest signpost to God

Assessed properly, humility is the abandonment of rose-colored self-evaluations.

Jesus did not tell parables to amuse, distract, or even educate his hearers. Usually, although not exclusively, about what matters to God (and why), the stories were meant to change how his hearers lived.

Matthew 5:5 5Happy are people who are humble, because they will inherit the earth.

Luke 18:9-14 9Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: 10“Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ 13But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ 14I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

Key Verse: “Happy are people who are humble, because they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

Sometimes Jesus told parables that were full of grace. Sometimes they were full of judgment. Sometimes we’re not sure how to understand them. Yet the parable for this lesson seems so straightforward at first. We’re not to compare ourselves favorably to others, especially if that leads us to belittle others. Instead, we are to act humbly, not trust in our own goodness, and depend on God’s mercy.

Besides God, there are two characters in this parable. One is an obvious good guy (a Pharisee); the other is an obvious bad guy (a tax collector). There was little to like about tax collectors. They had bought so deeply into the Roman political system that they were universally despised by Jews.

The Pharisees, however, were almost universally respected. True, some of Jesus’ harshest criticisms were directed at them, but these men were dependable, learned, and religiously devout. After the Holy City was destroyed and the priesthood collapsed, it was the Pharisees who reconstructed the Jewish faith into the Judaism we know today. They were good guys. If you believe the Pharisees were pious frauds, it’s time to let go of the stereotype. It is unfair and patently untrue.

Although our piety probably does not qualify us to be named in the same breath as devout Pharisees, some of us are likely pleased with our level of church involvement. We worship. We pray. We listen to instruction. When we head home, we’re none the worse for wear but perhaps none the better for the time spent in God’s presence. And that’s the tragedy of the Pharisee in Jesus’ story! What could be more tragic than heading home from an encounter with God unblessed and unchanged?

There is another way in which we may be similar to the Pharisee. Have we ever said of a person or a situation, “There, but for the grace of God, go I?” We’re expressing our gratitude that we took the paths we did. But if we then take credit for the choices, we may begin looking down on people (who didn’t get the same breaks we did) as beneath us and not as good as us.

We may want to interject that there is nothing immoral about this. Perhaps. But here’s the tragedy Jesus was zeroing in on: What can God offer a people who are convinced they can look after them-elves, who are not convinced God has anything to offer us we need? The tragedy is that we can enter God’s presence but remain unchanged, maybe even grow resentful.

The other character in Jesus’ parable is not a wholesome guy. His life has been full of bad choices and missed opportunities. The only thing he has going for him is that he knows this. Like the tax collector, some of us are weathering difficult times. In the words of the confession, “We have not loved [God] with our whole heart. We have failed to be obedient. We have not done [God’s] will, we have broken [God’s] law, we have rebelled against [God’s] love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy.” All we can hope is that God will be merciful to us.

Of course, the gospel has nothing to do with what we accomplish but everything to do with what God offers. When the tax collector spoke to God a snippet of a psalm (“God, be merciful to me, a sinner”), he likely had no idea he was reciting the words of King David in Psalm 51.

He may not even have known that what he needed was grace. He only knew his need was greater than he could bear. Sick of being sick, he threw himself on God’s mercy.

If that describes us, listen to a word of gospel that is as life-giving today as when it was first spoken! Said Jesus, “This man went home justified before God.” The bad man received what the good man didn’t even have the good sense to ask for.

It’s not that God gives good things only to the haggard and the hurting. It’s that the haggard and hurting are often the only people who think God has something to offer that might benefit them.

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.

Matthew 5:5, the third of eight beatitudes Jesus pronounced on God’s people in the Sermon on the Mount, declares that humble people are blessed because they will “inherit the earth.” The Gospel parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector, at prayer in the Temple in Jerusalem, appears only in the Gospel of Luke. It illustrates not only that God is “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34, KJV) but also that Mary’s declarations regarding God’s take on greatness and humility (Luke 1:52-53) are incisive comments on God’s way in our world.

The Gospel text divides into five brief parts. In Part 1 (Luke 18:9), Luke introduces a parable Jesus told that addresses the linkage between our actions and God’s bestowal of favor. In Part 2 (verse 10), Jesus names two characters depicted in the parable: a Pharisee and a tax collector. Part 3 (verses 11-12) recounts the Pharisee’s prayer to God. Part 4 (verse 13) reports the quite different prayer of the tax collector. Part 5 (verse 14) includes a surprising divine verdict on the two persons as well as the concluding judgment that hearers/readers are intended to make.

Matthew 5:5. Jesus’ first two beatitudes are linked directly to Isaiah 61:1-2. This third beatitude is similarly linked to Psalm 37:11...

"But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace"

...as well as its immediate echoes in Psalm 37:22, 34...

Psalm 37:22 "For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, But those cursed by Him will be eliminated".

Psalm 37:34 "Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off".

It should not surprise us that Jesus, who said that he had no interest in “[doing] away with the Law and the Prophets” but intended to “fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17), was steeped in the words of Holy Scripture.

“Humble” is a helpful translation that avoids the largely negative feelings associated with the word “meek” (KJV, NRSV, NIV). In a culture in which it is considered normative to be ambitious and self-assertive, the almost visceral reaction to and largely negative assessment of Charles Wesley’s hymn’s depiction of “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”1 unfortunately says more about the human qualities we value than those valued by Jesus.

It is worth recalling that Jesus said of himself that he was “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29, KJV), “gentle and humble” (NASB, NRSV, TEV).

And it was said of Moses that he was “very meek” (Numbers 12:3, KJV), “very humble” (NASB, NRSV, NIV), “a quietly humble man, more so than anyone living on Earth” (The Message). Neither man was considered by his peers to be arrogant, boisterous, or proud. Exercising humility or displaying meekness is regularly asserted by many to be an open invitation to be treated by others as a doormat, someone who can be walked over easily.

However, given Moses’ willingness to confront Pharaoh and the Egyptian people repeatedly (Exodus 5–11.) and even to argue with God (Exodus 32:9-14; 33:12-16; Numbers 14:1-20), the assertion is difficult to defend. The same is true of Jesus, who neither grew hesitant nor expressed fear when in the presence of prominent Jewish officials (John 18:19-23), detachments of soldiers (John 18:3-8), or appointed Roman officials (John 18:33-37).

Assessed properly, humility is the abandonment of rose-colored self-evaluations. It is the result of an accurate, “true estimate of ourselves.” 2 The meek are those who know that they “stand empty-handed before God in total dependence upon him.”3 Since God “shows favor to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34; quoted in James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5), that is not a bad situation to be in.

Proverbs 3:34 - "The Lord mocks the mockers but is gracious to the humble."

“[Inheriting] the earth” is an oft-named divine promise in the Old Testament (for example, Psalm 25:13; Isaiah 57:13) first spoken to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-20; 17:8). Although it referred originally and specifically to the geographical land of Canaan/Israel, by extension it pointed to the certainty of God fulfilling God’s promises.

As Psalm 37:11 made clear, the humble will most assuredly “enjoy peace and prosperity” (NIV). Shalom shall be theirs.

With these thoughts in mind, we are ready to think about Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18 as an apt illustration of this beatitude.

Luke 18:9. As was true of most of Jesus’ parables, this story (one of the last that he told) had a particular audience in mind. In the Gospel of Luke, only the parables of the talents (Luke 19:12-27) and the tenants (20:9-16) remained. While some had almost immediately transparent meanings, they were not simple tales told so that even children could understand them. Often, the stories left (and still leave) hearers deeply puzzled, requiring them to ponder the tales at length if they want to understand them.

Readers must be careful not to equate “certain people” with the Pharisees. Identifying the “bad guy” in the story with persons whom we believe we are not is a self-serving attempt to distance ourselves from the story’s harsh conclusion.

Indeed, the rest of the verse carefully clarifies that the “certain people” are those who “[convincee] themselves that they [are] righteous and who [look] on everyone else with disgust.”

Since classifying people as good or bad, right or wrong, or wise or foolish is something that almost every single one of us does, it is critically important to pay close attention to the two ways Jesus described these “certain people.”

(1) They were “convinced” that they “were righteous.” That is, they believed that they were thinking the only correct—and thus approvable— way to think about the issue(s) in question. (2) Because they (alone) were thinking rightly, anyone thinking or acting differently was clearly wrong and could therefore be “looked on . . . with disgust,” regarded “with contempt” (NASB, NRSV), “scorned” (NLT), “despised” (KJV, RSV, TEV), or “looked down on” (NIV).

In telling this story, Jesus was not suggesting that there aren’t right and wrong ways to think or act. Nor was he declaring that right and wrong, or good actions and bad actions, are beyond our ability to determine. Nor was he suggesting that it is necessarily wrong to have specific beliefs or to make particular judgments. Nor was he declaring that any belief or judgment should be tolerated as equally admissible as any other. His very telling of the story was an attempt to correct something that he considered wrong and to advocate something that he considered right.

No matter how right we may convince ourselves we are on a political, social, or religious issue, being right never gives us permission to despise those who disagree with us or treat them with contempt. As Cyril of Alexandria (376–444) said long ago, “No one who is in good health ridicules one who is sick for being laid up or bedridden.”

Verse 10. “Two people went up to the Temple to pray.” While there were scores of synagogues in Galilee, Judea, and in other regions throughout the Roman Empire, there was only one Temple, which was located in Jerusalem. Situated on a 35-acre mount that had been leveled by construction workers approved by King Herod, the Temple complex was enclosed by walls that towered 100 feet above the streets of Jerusalem. Thus, persons literally “went up” to the Temple.

Described by the prophet Isaiah as “a house of prayer” (Isaiah 56:7), the Temple complex was open for public prayers twice daily, at 9 am (Acts 2:15) and 3 pm (Acts 3:1). Of course, persons could pray privately at the Temple at any time.

“Pharisees” were Jewish laypersons who took God’s call to live holy lives so seriously that they declared that priestly standards of conduct were applicable for all people. Although the numbers of persons who committed themselves to a strict Pharisaic way of life remained small (probably never more than five percent 30 Adult Bible Studies Teacher of the Jewish populace), by the time of Jesus the religious renewal movement had become a political force in Judea and Galilee that had to be reckoned with.

While some New Testament critiques of some of the Pharisees encourage some Christians today to disparage all Pharisees as “hypocrites,” the power of this parable’s conclusion (Luke 18:14) to surprise hearers/readers is severely compromised if the Pharisee in the story is considered at the outset to be a villain rather than a holy man.

A tax collector was a Jew in the employ of Roman overseers responsible for collecting official (and unofficial) taxes, tolls, duties, customs, and other fees from the Jewish populace. Because these agents obtained their salary by overcharging persons however much they believed they could reasonably collect—a standard practice granted and approved by the overseers—tax collectors were generally disapproved of by Jews as traitors of the Jewish people. Just as first-century Jews would have believed that Pharisees were generally honorable and pious, so they would have believed that tax collectors were dishonorable thieves, not heroes.

Verse 11. Adopting the usual posture for prayer, the Pharisee “stood.” His prayer began appropriately as well, with thanksgivings to God. However, instead of thanking God for what God had done––not making the Pharisee a Gentile or a slave, for instance—he spoke of the things he had not done. He was not guilty of breaking any of the Mosaic laws; he didn’t steal, give false testimony, or commit adultery. Nor, he added, espying in the distance a traitorous figure, was he like “this tax collector,” extorting questionable tolls from his fellow Jews.

Verse 12. In addition, his piety had advanced to the point that he no longer fasted only one day a year on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) or even one day a week; he fasted “twice a week,” probably on Mondays and Thursdays, the days on which Moses was said to have ascended Mount Sinai to meet with God and to have descended the holy mountain with the Ten Commandments in hand. And his tithing practice was equally well-developed; he paid a tithe on everything. To offer a contemporary parallel, he didn’t just tithe his net; he tithed his gross. Before turning our attention to the tax collector, it’s important to acknowledge that nothing mentioned by the Pharisee would have been considered a bad thing—then or now. What church today would not be thrilled to have a member who tithed his gross income, was a regular practitioner of private piety, could honestly say that he kept the Ten Commandments fully intact, and did not engage in shady, traitorous deeds of any kind?

Indeed, if we’re looking for something to slight, about the only thing we can say concerning the man is that he has drawn our attention to the good deeds he does, as well as to his successful avoidance of bad deeds. That, and perhaps this: “Proper thanks to God for one’s lot in life never involves condescension toward others.”

Verse 13. As noted by the Pharisee, there was also present at that time of public prayer a “tax collector.” One gets the sense that he felt uncomfortable and rather ill at ease in the Temple complex, for he “stood [apart from others,] at a distance.” Furthermore, as he spoke privately to God, he couldn’t quite bring himself to lift his eyes heavenward (as Jews then regularly did and as we today tend to do, too). The picture Jesus painted of the man was that he was distraught in spirit, unsure if he even should be speaking to God. He was, after all, not a good man. He was a tax collector. So, keeping his eyes averted, perhaps with a deeply furrowed brow, he repeatedly “struck his chest” in anguish (Luke 23:48), much as a priest today might do during the worship services of Lent and Holy Week. The act is a visual acknowledgement of his unholy status.

Knowing that there was nothing to which he could draw God’s attention to commend himself to God, all he could do was be honest and throw himself on the mercy of the strict judge before whom he stood. “God, show mercy to me, a sinner.”

Verse 14. Jesus concluded his story with a shocking, even breathtaking declaration. The tax collector, not the Pharisee, “went . . . home justified.” The conclusion is so shocking that it forces us to reread the parable immediately; surely, we must have missed or misread something.

On second (or third) reading, many readers decide that the Pharisee’s “problem” was that he praised his own goodness rather than thanking God for helping him to act rightly. That may be, although it is quite possible to read verse 13 as his list of the things he does—he fasts, he tithes—to express his gratitude to God There is, however, a simpler reason as to why the tax collector “went . . . home justified” and the Pharisee did not. It’s not that God refused to offer mercy to the Pharisee because of something the man did or did not do. For whatever reason, the Pharisee never asked for mercy. Not having asked for it, he didn’t receive it. The tax collector, on the other hand, aware of his need, asked for mercy and received it. Jesus’ concluding comment, a repetition of Luke 14:11, reinforces the point.