The Pharisee and The Tax Collector (Part 1): The Pharisee

Introduction

This post begins a two-part study on the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. As the title obviously gives away, the parable has two main characters: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The choice of these characters for this parable was no mistake. Jesus knew who was in his audience what issues he had to deal with. So Jesus very carefully chooses his characters. To know why these 2 characters are important, the reader must understand their personalities as individuals, how their communities impacted society, and the cultural stigma that went with them. This post will look at the Pharisees’ side of the story. The next post will look at the tax collectors’ side of the story.

Since there will be two posts covering the two characters of story, take the time to read the story twice. To mix it up a bit, read the passage in 2 different translations of the Bible. For the first time, read the parable in a literal translation, like New American Standard Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV), King James Version (KJV) or New King James Version (NKJV). For the second time, read the story in a dynamic equivalency, like the Revised Standard Version (RSV), New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), New International Version (NIV), Today’s New International Version (TNIV), Century English Version (CEV), or New Century Version (NCV). I personally chose the NASB and NCV.

The Biblical Account

What kind of thoughts or feelings arise when you hear the term “Pharisee”? Most people have a negative connotation to Pharisees. The New Testament, especially the Gospels, give the reader this negative connotation about the Pharisees. The Bible shows its reader that they had a poor view of the Old Testament, especially the Law. They favored their Rabbinic interpretation of the Law, so much that they put the Rabbinic interpretation over the Law itself! They believed following the Law would bring about the Messiah and salvation. In believing so, they became legalistic, which in turn made the Law itself an idol. They failed to that the Lord was a God who was gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love (Matthew 23:23,24). Because of their bad views of the Law, it led the Pharisees to believe they were purer, holier, more righteous and more sacred than the rest of the people, which they deemed “sinners.” The New Testament carefully depicts the Pharisees as self-righteous. The Pharisees would agree with that depiction, and they would boast about it, too! The Pharisees boasted themselves up and put other people down, pretty much condemning everyone who wasn’t a Pharisee. Both the first point, the poor view of the Old Testament, and second point, seeing themselves as self-righteous, led the Pharisees naturally to a third negative point: the Pharisees would ultimately reject Jesus, and they would get so angry with him, they would play a crucial role when it came to Christ’s death. The Gospels remind their audience about this crucial role the Pharisees played in crucifying Jesus. Pharisees voted towards executing Jesus. Pharisees stirred up the crowd to coax Pontius Pilate to allow the death penalty. After anyone reads the New Testament, especially the Gospels, that person will naturally have negatives feelings towards the Pharisees.

Enough trash talking about the Pharisees. Can anyone say anything good about the Pharisees? Do the Gospels even mention any good instance where a Pharisee is good or in the right? Yes, in fact, it does! There are a few positive instances. Most are in Luke. How ironic, that the only Gentile Gospel writer has the most positive things to say about the Jews! Luke records 3 times that a Pharisee invited Jesus to his house (Luke 7:36, 11:37, 14:1). This hospitality demonstrates a willingness to hear what the Jesus had to say. John also reminds us that while several Pharisees stood against Jesus, it doesn’t mean that all were against him. Some, such as Nicodemus, secretly followed Jesus (John 7:50,51; 12:42,43; 19:38,39). If that’s the case, it’s quite possible that maybe some Pharisees on the Sanhedrin voted against putting Jesus to death.

The Cultural Account

The Pharisees were a religious group that developed during the intertestament period (between the Old Testament and New Testament), right after the Maccabean Revolt (the Hanukkah story).

The Pharisees were not liberal, but were less conservative than the Sadducees, and a different type of conservative. Take purity, for example. The Sadducees were more conservative because they believed everything needed to be pure in every sacrifice: the sacrifice itself, the high priest, and even the tools used in the sacrifice. The Pharisees were less conservative in this matter. They were only concerned about purity in special sacrifices, like the sacrifice for the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies during Yom Kippur. Yet this doesn’t mean they weren’t concerned with purity at all. When they needed to be pure, they took extra precaution. They would wash the altar on which the sacrifice was performed. They would also take extra precautions to make sure the priests were impure. The priests weren’t allowed to be even close to someone who was sick, not even a cold!

The Pharisees advertised themselves as the religious party “of the people.” To be a Pharisee, a man needed to have a family. The man needed to be married and have children, so he could relate to the people who were part of a family. To be a Pharisee, a man also needed to have a job. Most of the Sadducees were priests or levites or even “professional Sadducees.” The Pharisees wanted to relate to the people, so they wanted a have a common job to relate to the common worker. At the same time, a Pharisee couldn’t have just any old job. They needed to have what we call a “white collar job” and they could not have what we call a “blue collar job” because the “white collar jobs” were more dignified and respectable than the “blue collar obs.” Such jobs that were off-limits were tax collector and fisherman (fishermen were dirty, smelly, and they worked naked often). So you can imagine how appalled the Pharisees were at Jesus when Jesus first calls 4 fishermen and a tax collector to be his disciples! Yet that’s what Jesus was all about: turning the kingdom of God upside down on the Pharisees.

Connecting the Biblical Account and the Cultural Account

The Pharisees also had “top 3” when it came to spiritual disciplines. Can you guess 2 of them? I bet you can! Hint: it’s the 2 the Pharisee mentions in the parable. 2 of them are fasting and giving, whether it be tithing to God or giving to the poor. The third one was prayer. Which is quite interesting. Read Matthew 6:1-6,16-18 below, and pay close what I’ve italicized for emphasis. You should notice a pattern.

Matthew 6:1-6,16-18 (NIV, 1984 ed.)-

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁵ And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ¹⁶ When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

All these verses came from the same section and the same sermon series, the Sermon on the Mount. How fitting. Did you notice the pattern here? Did you notice similar words and phrases? I noticed 3 similar phrases: “as the hypocrites do,” “I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full” and “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” The pattern shows that these 3 parts of the Sermon on the Mount together by no mistake. They belong together. I believe that here, in these passages, “hypocrite” is code name for the Pharisees because all 3 spiritual practices Jesus mentions are the top 3 spiritual practices of the Pharisees. But Jesus used the code name “hypocrites” because, after all, you don’t want to start your ministry calling out and attacking the most love religious party, the religious party “of the people.” What do you think is the reward that they have received in full? I think it’s public attention, which they want. But Jesus reveals how weak and fleeting public attention is. Instead, Jesus presents the right way to spiritually discipline oneself in fasting, prayer and giving, in a way that honors God, and in turn, God blesses them. That’s the true reward. Once again, Jesus turns the Kingdom of God upside down on the Pharisees.

Let’s make one more connection between the culture of the Pharisees and the Bible. A common prayer Pharisees would recite says, “Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has not made me a Gentile, a slave or a woman.” It was common for Pharisees to recite this prayer, almost on a daily basis, Pharisees such as Paul. Then Paul gets saved. Take a look at Galatians 3:28 below. Once again, pay close attention to what I italicized for emphasis.

Galatians 3:28 (NIV 1984 ed.)-

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus

The Greek word used for “Greek” can also be translated “Gentile.” I think Paul had this prayer in mind when Paul wrote Galatians 3:28 Instead of lifting himself up as better than others, he praised God for being counted among those people in the kingdom of God. What do you think changed Paul? Obviously Paul is saved, but what part about becoming a Christian changed Paul’s mind? Whatever the reason, Jesus truly changed the life of this Pharisee. Before, Saul would praise God for not being what he considered a “lower person” in all his pride. After, Paul humbly praised God that he could join the ranks of all those people to be considered a child of God. That’s the power of Jesus Christ!

Conclusion

While the Pharisees would occasionally listen to others, they mostly concluded they had it right and looked down on anyone who disagreed with them. They would also look down on anyone who weren’t free Jewish men, like slaves, Gentiles, and women. This is why they probably rejected Jesus. Jesus befriended the slaves, Gentiles, women, tax collectors, fishermen and the lower class. They thought a good free Jewish man would avoid people, but Jesus turned the Kingdom of God upside down on them. And any Pharisee who believed in Jesus, like Nicodemus and Paul, was turned around, upside down and totally changed. Therefore, when I read the parable in Luke 18, I don’t think it’s the fact he’s a Pharisee that makes the Pharisee go home unjustified. It’s his refusal to humble his heart before God. If the Pharisee too would have beaten his breast and begged for mercy, both men would have gone home justified before God. The point is both are sinners and both need forgiveness. As Christians, this should give us hope. If even the most godly Pharisee can humble his heart and receive forgiveness, so can the most godly Christian receive forgiveness when he or she humbles his or her heart.