This is a sermon on Luke 18:9–14 preached on 10.23.22 at Redeemer Church

“There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between these two ways.” This is the opening of one of the oldest Christian writings outside the New Testament (Didache 1:1). It expresses a truth that deeply resonated with me as a young man, but I had a problem.

I knew “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov 14:12; 16:25), but I also knew that I didn’t have the power to change. For the life of me, I could not understand how to get on the right path and be sure I was truly on it and could stay on it.

I grew up in a country church that preached scripture with conviction. They held up scripture as God’s word, and they preached a gospel of grace, but to me it seemed cheap, too good to be true. The Christian school I went to preached a gospel that said, “You can get started on this path by grace, but if you stumble then you’re out. You have to live it.” I remember sitting in chapels and church services and wanting to know I was right with God and being siezed by the thought that there is no way I could do it.

Our passage this morning provides a striking picture of what it looks like to be on the right path and embrace God’s way in the world. Jesus speaks strong words of affirmation to one of the two people in our parable.

The Contrast

Luke 18 tells us exactly what Jesus is up to with this parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector. Verse 9 says,

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

The parable presents two ways of being in the world, but the contrast isn’t between being a Pharisee and being a tax collector. In fact, in the first century world, the Pharisees were the good guys. They were zealous to follow God and keep his instructions. Tax collectors, on the other hand, were thought of as people who compromise and steal and extort. It’s not about the titles attributed to these two men; it’s about what they think and feel and do and say.

The Pharisee’s Two Problems

Luke 18:9 says the Pharisee had two problems: (1) He trusted in himself that he was righteous and (2) he treated others with contempt.

When the Pharisee approaches God, he compares himself to other people. He says to God, “Thank you,” but he holds up to God ways in which he does better in life than other people — he doesn’t commit the sins he considers “bad sins.” And listen to the last part of verse 11:

I thank you God that I am not … like this tax collector.

That isn’t a throw away line. Scripture tells us that Jesus told this parable to some who treated others with contempt. These are contemptuous words, hateful words.

Hand-in-Hand

Maybe you look at the second issue — looking down on others, this tax collector — and you recognize this is no way to be, but the first part about comparing yourself to others, you might be tempted to think that’s a little more understandable. “He’s a little full of himself, but I mean that’s not the end of the world, is it?”

The Pharisee’s way of trusting in himself is, in fact, the same problem that broke the world in the first place. In the garden, the snake offered another way. “God said … but really?” Eve listened because it made sense, and it seemed good, and so she and Adam, just like the Pharisee, looked to themselves, their idea of what is good, instead of God’s. This act of self-determination, self-guidance, led to an overflow of violence. Three chapters later, Genesis 6:11 says,

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

It turns out looking away from God, following our own path, self-autonomy, has always gone hand-in-hand with violence and treating people with contempt. The Pharisee’s way of being in the world is right in step with the type of life proposed by the snake in the garden: “Look to yourself; it’ll be fine.”¹

Another Way

There is another way of being in this world.

Jesus was once in a pinch and faced the same tempter. Jesus hadn’t eaten in weeks and the tempter came to him and said, “You know you could just do this your way. Just turn the stones here in the desert into bread. There’s even a Bible verse here that you could use as support.”

It’s the same trick he used with Eve. The tempter tried to make taking matters into your own hands look appealing and reasonable and good, but Jesus didn’t listen. Instead, Jesus said life depends on embracing God’s way even when it seems odd or hurts:

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

All through the temptation narrative, the tempter calls for Jesus to just do it, just act, make your own way, and Jesus says in word and deed that God’s way will lead to still waters, even though it’s a path that might lead through the desert and look odd.

The Tax Collector’s Plea

The second man is the one Jesus says “goes home justified,” vindicated before the judge. He shows us how we can be right with God and know we are on the right path. Look at Luke 18:13:

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

The tempter would have you think that this posture doesn’t make sense. “There’s no way this can be it! You know that scripture says so much about how your life is supposed to be characterized by fruit! You know that isn’t who you are!” says the tempter. “You have to bear the fruit, and you can’t do it!” says the tempter. But he’s a liar.

Of course, your life should be characterized by fruit, but it’s fruit of the Spirit. You have to first being made right with God and receive the Spirit! It’s the fruit of the Spirit not Steve’s or Brian’s or Leslie’s fruit.

The tax collector’s posture is the exact opposite of what we saw in the serpent and Eve. It is significant to embrace this way of approaching God. In a few minutes we will confess our sins to God, and I invite you to bow your knee with me, physically if you are able, to say with your whole body, “I have nothing to offer. A plea for mercy is my only hope.” The tax collector doesn’t have a better idea or a better way, and neither do we.

The previous parable in Luke 18, in fact, makes the same point. Our passage, if you noticed, started by saying, “Jesus also told them this parable…” Jesus had just told a parable with a similar point. You can summarize it in one sentence: If human judges — even wicked ones, as is the case in Luke 18 — will listen to those who make pleas for mercy, how much more will God, our good Father.

Embracing God’s Way

This isn’t just a way of approaching God; it’s a way of being in the world. Confessing our empty-handed need for mercy strikes at the root of the rebellion that broke the world in the first place. It is meaningful. Our Lord said, “The one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

God promises to draw near to your pleas for mercy not just with a declaration of righteousness; he also promises his presence and Spirit. He promises to take your heart of stone and give you a new heart, a new Spirit (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26), to give you what you need to both want and work (Philippians 2:13) in ways that are pleasing to him.

The call this morning is to trust that when Jesus says we must approach God by asking for mercy, there is no other way. When we approach this way, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9–10). It isn’t too good to be true. It’s far more radical than we are tempted to believe. Trust that God will do the work inside you. Trust that he will make you into the person he wants you to be in his time. Cry to the Father for mercy in Jesus’s name, and trust that he will lead you beside still waters (Psalm 23).

☩ In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. ☩

1. Zechariah 3:10 connects the removal of Israel’s iniquity with peace and harmonious social relations. See Didymus the Blind’s commentary on these verse. ↩