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POLAR OPPOSITES - In the previous story, Luke has a normally, powerless
character-a poor widow-effecting great results because of her tenacity. Here again we have
a character who is a sort of a rough-around-the-edges kind of character. The tax collector
is portrayed as the polar opposite of the Pharisee who is a member of a polite society and
a member of a prestigious and educated group in Jerusalem.
LUKE’S REVERSALS - The image of status-reversal continues to haunt the readers of
Luke’s gospel. The one, who in polite society should have had his prayers answered,
is the one who according to the storyteller prayed thus to himself [Gr. rendering]
(v. 11). Yet, on the other hand, we have a person who is keenly aware of his shortcomings
in life and approaches prayer with a reticent and humble attitude.
NIB :
The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, contrary to
some interpretations, is a two-sided parable. To read it as simply a warning against
pride, self-sufficiency, or a relationship with God based on one’s own works is to
miss the other side of the parable, which connects the Pharisee’s posture before God
with his contempt for the tax collector. The nature of grace is paradoxical: It can be
received only by those who has learned empathy for others . . . grace partakes of the
nature of mercy and forgiveness. Only the merciful can receive mercy, and only those who
forgive will be forgiven (6:36-38).
connections
Which of the characters have you most played in your spiritual
journey? Name a time when you were the Pharisee and a time when you were the
tax-collector.
Some may think that there is something unhealthy about each of the characters-something
imbalanced that needs adjustment. How would you bring balance to each of the two
characters? To your own life?
gambit
Fred Craddock provides an important insight into how we might
appropriate this material for use in our sermons . . .
For this parable to continue to speak with
power, the preacher will need to find in our culture analogous characters. The Pharisee is
not a venomous villain and the publican is not generous Joe the bartender or Goldie the
good-hearted hooker. Such portrayals belong in cheap novels. If the Pharisee is pictured
as a villain and the tax collector as a hero, then each gets what he deserves, there is
not surprise of grace and the parable is robbed. In Jesus’ story, what both receive
is "in spite of," not "because of." When the two men are viewed in
terms of character and community expectations, without labels or prejudice, the parable is
still a shock, still carrying the power both to offend and to bless. But perhaps most
important, the interpreter of this parable does not want to depict the characters in such
a way that the congregation leaves the sanctuary saying, "God, I thank thee that I am
not like the Pharisee." It is possible that the reversal could be reversed. [1]
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[1] Fred Craddock, Interpretation Series: Luke (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1990),
page 211.
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