“Who Is a Pharisee?”

(Luke 18:9-14)

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week: I give a tenth of all my income.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, Be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exult themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

            Oh my gosh, I have this love/hate relationship with this text.  On the one hand, it is so rich with potential for the preacher; it’s so quotable and so edgy, which I love.

            On the other hand, it requires me—and all of us—to look in the mirror and be really honest with ourselves.  And that is difficult, because some of us resist anything that sounds like criticism, especially at church….  Others of us take it all on thinking we are just terrible people.  Seems like we are either too hard on ourselves or we’re too cocky—or both….             But let’s give ourselves a chance to find meaning in this lesson…. 

            So…what do you know about Pharisees?  (self-righteous rule followers, hypocritical, arrogant folks who follow the letter of the law versus the spirit).

I think our New Testament references to the Pharisees have, for the most part, formed our opinions about this group.  We have heard so much about the Pharisees in the Gospels.  The sect known as the Pharisees, as opposed to the Saduccees and the Essenes, came on the scene after the first Temple in Israel was destroyed way back in the 500s BCE.

To the surprise of many, the Pharisees were actually the common people whose basic belief was in the spoken law brought forth by Moses.  They believed in an afterlife in which people were punished or rewarded for their behavior in this life.  They looked forward to a Messiah who would bring an era of world peace.  They developed writings like the Talmud and the Mishnah over the centuries that provided and continue to provide sophisticated scholarly interpretations of the law of Moses.  Scholars still study those documents. 

Their approach was affected by their circumstances, of course.  As the ancient Jewish people began to assimilate with other people (usually through their nation being conquered), the Pharisees were the folks who were applying Jewish law to everyday activities.  In order to preserve their heritage and culture they knew how critical it was to observe the purity laws that came from Moses’ law.  Hence came all the writings and the 600 plus laws based on Mosaic Law.  The Pharisees were the spiritual parents of what is modern-day Judaism.

            So, obviously, the Pharisees are a critical part of the history of Judaism but also of our own Christian history.  This brings me to who the Pharisees are in many of our New Testament texts.  The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee.  This is part of the reason we have such a low opinion of the Pharisees. 

Paul, in taking seriously the purity laws—was a fundamentalist, really.  Paul took absolutely literally the religious law.  He was in the business of putting Christians to death because they were straying from Pharisaic law.  But also, now put on your seatbelts, be aware that there are those who think that Jesus may have been a Pharisee.  After all, the Pharisees were the common people, not the priestly class. 

But it is clear that Jesus was bringing his new interpretation of the law to bear upon the Pharisees of the day who had become rigid and dug into their roles as rule-keepers.

            Here is how Jesus was rebelling against the religious wisdom of his time: the Pharisees were obsessed with enforcing the letter of the law.  Jesus, instead, was holding up the law of love.  The Pharisees were scorning sinners, but Jesus was seeking to engage everyone in conversation, having dinner with them, holding them as examples of the law of love.

            …which brings us to today’s parable, Jesus’ teaching moment for us: he said this parable was and is, of course, directed to those who are righteous, yet regard others with contempt (OUCH!). 

Now, if you don’t think this piece of scripture applies to you, to all of us, then you may be pickin’ and choosin’ about what you’re going to read and take seriously in the Bible (which is another thing we all like to do!)

            So, we have two guys going to the temple to pray, the guy who is the upholder of the laws of purity and faithfulness and the guy who was a member of a group whom everyone knew was a sinner, a guy who was despised, unclean and untouchable.

            Please know that Jesus is using this dilemma to turn upside down the preconceived notions of the people in his day.  The Pharisee is supposed to be ultra-righteous and yet he is taken to task by Jesus.  The tax collector is supposed to be a sinner-extraordinaire yet he is shown to be humble and also a pray-er.

So, the Pharisee thanks God for not making him like those others, you know, the sinners: the thieves, the adulterers and the tax collectors.  I think of this story when I want to use the saying, “But for the grace of God, go I.”  I get why people say it.  They think, “I could very well be in that position,” but it comes across like, “if God weren’t being gracious toward me, I’d be poor or in prison or mentally ill or in some hopeless state of mind.”  So thanks, God, I’m comfortable, fairly well to do, healthy, happy, secure….  Well, you get where I’m going here, right?  The prayer of the Pharisee was not concern for others, as in, “please God, take care of my friends, those less fortunate.”  It was arrogant.  He was saying,  “Phew.  You know me, God.  I’m doing everything right.  I pray.  I fast.  I tithe.  I’ve got it covered and you can see, I’m one of God’s Chosen.”

            The tax collector, on the other hand, stood way back, not even lifting his eyes toward heaven, humbly asking God to be merciful to him, a self-confessed sinner.

            In this parable, Jesus has shaken the foundations of his religion.  The man who, logically and in accordance with the law of the religion, the law of the land, should be being honored by Jesus, should be exalted.  That guy is the one who Jesus brings down low.  And the one who has nothing, IS nothing, is being exalted by God.

            …This makes no sense.  But I’ll tell you what, a lot of things don’t make sense these days.  We Christians know good and well that Jesus was on the side of the poor, the children, the prisoners, the hungry and yet we, in our developed, sophisticated country, are still discussing whether we should take care of our children, whether we should see that all kids get the opportunity for an education.  We are still fighting over whether we should provide shelter for those in need.   Somehow we’ve decided that all we have to do in this world is take care of our own little pile of gold and make sure it grows and grows while the poor folk get poorer. 

The thing is, most of us here are not growing our wealth, yet the top wealthiest one percent of our nation—THEY are the only ones who are amassing all the wealth.  This is not in line with what Jesus said and did.  It’s not what he sacrificed his life for. 

Listen to this phrase from the Song of Mary that we hear every Christmas season.  Our scripture has her singing this as she realizes the weight of the job she has been given in carrying the Messiah: “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

All right.  I will soon get off my soapbox, but not quite yet.  We must beware of when we divide humanity into groups.  When we think of others as less than we are, we have aligned ourselves with the Pharisee (as in, I thank you God that I am not like those other people).

And it’s so easy to do with this parable.  I might think, “Oh, I’m fine because I’m like the tax collector, not the Pharisee.”  As soon as that happens I suddenly become self-righteous and holier than thou.  Really, this is not about whether I’m a Pharisee or a tax collector or a self-righteous so-and-so or a humble sinner who is asking for mercy.  It is about God….  God, alone, can judge the human heart.  There is nothing here that we can pat ourselves on the back for.  We, each of us, are completely dependent upon God. 

Just that one thing.  So, really, it’s pretty simple for both the preacher and the hearer, but that doesn’t make it easy.  It’s not about declaring judgement on those “others,” and there’s a lot of that going on today on all sides.  Rather, it is about surrendering ourselves to God’s love and will for us, and to quit comparing and deciding whether we’re on the top or on the bottom. 

If Jesus wanted to give us a cookbook for living, he would have simply referred us to Pharisaic Law.  Instead, he gave us the Law of Love, simple but not easy.  Love God, love your neighbor as yourself.  And act accordingly.  We have to quit measuring and just approach each other with love!   

---