The Pharisee and The Tax Collector (Part 2): The Tax Collector

Introduction

This post continues the two-part study on the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The last post looked at the Pharisee and his side of the story. This post will look at the tax collector and his side of the story. I hope you have already re-read the parable in another Bible version (preferably a dynamic equivalency if you already read a literal translation) because we are diving right into their cultural context: their personalities as individuals, how their communities impacted society, and the cultural stigma that went with them.

The Cultural Account

I know I don’t have to ask what thoughts are feelings arise when you hear “tax collector.” It doesn’t matter if you live in the 1^st century or 21^st century, nobody likes a tax collector. Even on an episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, when Regis asked the contestant his occupation, and the contestant answered, “a collector for the Internal Revenue Service,” the audience immediately booed him. The negative connotation of the tax collector most likely comes from viewing the tax collector as someone taking away our hard earned money. People feel like they worked hard to get that money, and no one should have the right to take from them. This feeling probably did not change from 1^st century to 21^st century. Yet the person living in the 21^st century should appreciate the 21^st century tax collector because the 21^st century tax collector has standards, boundaries, ethics and morals. The 1^st century tax collector had no such thing.

In the 1^st century cultural context of the New Testament, tax collectors of the Roman Empire could be of any race or ethnicity, but they all worked for the Roman Empire, which made them appear more as sympathizers to the Romans rather than citizens of their own race and ethnicity.

The Roman Empire required tax collectors to collect three main taxes: an annual land tax, an annual income tax and customs or poll tax. In addition, sometimes local taxes were levied by the local rulers by the whim of authority. Furthermore, the Roman Empire allowed tax collectors to collect extra for their salary. This too was at the whim of the tax collector. He collected as much as he thought he deserved. Individually and altogether, taxes were generally high. Josephus records in Jewish Antiquities the land tax for farmers in Sidon was 25% of the sown produce! Clearly the Roman Empire did not help the cultural view of tax collectors.

As if the Roman Empire did not help the view of tax collectors, tax collectors really didn’t help themselves either. Tax collectors could get nasty when it came to collecting their taxes. Some tortured and killed debtors and those close to the debtors in order to get their money. Philo writes in Special Laws, “When some of [the tax collector’s] debtors whose default was clearly due to poverty took flight in fear of the fatal consequences of his vengeance, [the tax collector] carried off by force their womenfolk and children and parents and their other relatives and beat and subjected them to every kind of outrage and contumely in order to make them either tell him the whereabouts of the fugitive or discharge his debt themselves.” Some tax collectors also committed fraud on a regular basis. Philo writes in Embassy to Gaius, “Capito is the tax-collector for Judaea and cherishes a spite against the population. When he came there he was a poor man but by his rapacity [covetousness] and peculation [embezzlement] he has amassed much wealth in various forms.” In Sanhedrin 25b, “At first they thought that they [tax collectors and publicans] collected no more than the legally imposed tax. But when it was seen that they overcharged, they were disqualified.” These atrocities gave tax collectors, even the good ones, a bad name.

Therefore, people hated tax collectors and saw them a low lifes. Jewish rabbis grouped them with other low lifes, like thieves, robbers, murderers, adulterers and pimps. Some rabbis even claimed God would punish tax collectors with leprosy. Jews also saw tax collectors as ceremonially unclean and traitors to Judaism. Jews even used the term “tax collector” as a derogatory term to call people. Not only did the Jews see tax collectors as low lifes, Romans also saw them as lesser people. In Cicero’s Duties, Cicero writes a list of occupations, with the most gentlemen-like at the top and the most vulgar at the bottom. Tax collectors fall all the way to the bottom. Nobody liked a tax collector.

Since the Jews looked down on tax collectors, the Jews treated down tax collectors. Tax collectors were not allowed to be Pharisees until they quit their job. In court, they could not be judges, nor could their testimony could be used. Jeremias sums it up best in Jerusalem, “[A tax collector] was deprived of civil and political rights to which every Israelite had claim, even those such as bastards who were of seriously blemished descent.” The Jews made it clear in their behavior how much they disliked the tax collectors. While the job might have paid well, becoming a tax collector made it a tough ride in life socially.

The Biblical Account

Tax collectors are clearly visible in the Gospel presence. They occur 25 times in the Gospel: 9 times in Matthew, 4 times in Mark, 12 times in Luke, 0 times in John. It’s not that John was against Christ’s actions toward tax collectors, but rather John, being the last gospel, thought the other Gospel writers covered it enough. These occurrences cover 11 different episodes. We don’t have the time fully exegete all 11 different episodes, but we will cover some main topics in which Jesus encounters tax collectors and will connect them to cultural context.

Jesus Uses It As A Derogatory Term

Matthew 5:46 ESV-

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

Matthew 18:17 ESV-

“If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

Does it surprise you these are quotes from Jesus? If Jesus used the term “tax collector” as a derogatory term, does that mean Jesus had the same low, negative view of tax collectors? I think not. Look at both the cultural context and the literary context. Notice how both quotes come from the book of Matthew. Matthew is Jew writing to Jews. The cultural account teaches that the Jews hated the tax collectors more than anyone else. The Jews let tax collectors know how hated they were in both their words and actions. In both of these quotes, Jesus uses this cultural knowledge to turn the Jews’ world and the kingdom of God upside down on the Jews. In Matthew 5:46, Jesus uses the tax collectors’ low view to teach the importance of loving everyone, including your enemies. If even those of the lowest stature can love those that love them, then those who deem themselves as more moral and more upright must go a step above just loving those who love them. In Matthew 18:17, Jesus uses the tax collectors’ low standing to explain the severity of someone in the church who will not heed to church discipline. Yet at the same time with Matthew 18:17, perhaps the point of comparing an unrepentant church member to a tax collector was to get across that both need God’s love and God’s salvation, and that everyone needs God’s love and God’s salvation.

Tax Collectors are the Object of the Lost/Found Parables

Luke 15:1,2 ESV-

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Sadly, Christians have a habit of separating these 3 parables when they really do belong together (technically, the 2 parables in Luke 16 most likely go with the 3 parables in Luke 15 too, but that’s a different discussion for a later time). Sadly, Christians also forget the importance of the first two introductory verses in Luke 15. The introductory verses, together with the parables, explain why Jesus receives and eats with tax collectors and sinners. The parables emphasize the joy of something, or someone, lost being found. In the same way, Jesus rejoices over sinners coming to salvation. If Jesus rejoices over sinners coming to salvation, godly men and women should do the same. The problem is that the Jewish religious leaders did not. They judged and condemned the tax collectors and sinners instead of helping them to salvation. Jesus emphasizes this point at the end of the prodigal son parable. The older brother represents the Jewish leadership because they are always with the Father, and yet they did not know the Father. If they would have known the Father, they too would work with tax collectors and sinners to help them come to repentance.

Jesus Calls A Tax Collector To Be A Disciple

Of the 12 disciples, the Gospels record Jesus specifically calling 5 of them. One of those is Levi, whom is known better as Matthew. All 3 synoptic Gospels record this event: Matthew 9:9-11, Mark 2:14-16 and Luke 5:27-30. The original Greek literally calls Matthew a “tax gatherer.” This means that Matthew actually collected the 3 taxes mentioned above: the annual income tax, the annual land tax and the customs/poll tax. More specifically, Matthew is the custom house official. This means that Matthew placed tax on whatever he wanted and then collected it. Jesus calling a tax collector to be a disciple must have been a shock to everyone, especially the Jewish religious leaders. Remember that everyone thought tax collecting was the most despicable and least moral job a person could have. This job was so looked down on that the Pharisees required tax collectors to quit their job in order to take any kind of religious job. Jesus turned their world upside down. Instead of choosing his disciples as the best of the best, he chose them as the worse of the worse. Jesus did not look for those who were already good and moral; he wanted those who wanted to learn and work on their lives. This is why Jesus says in all 3 synoptic Gospels something along the lines of, “It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come for the righteous, but for sinners.”

Jesus Ate With Tax Collectors

When all 3 synoptic Gospels tell the story of Jesus calling Matthew, they also recall Jesus going to eat with Matthew and his fellow tax collector friends. Furthermore, in Luke 19:5-7, Jesus goes to the home of Zacchaeus, another tax collector. Remember that in this culture dining with someone at their house means acceptance, reconciliation and a close relationship. This is why people become upset when they see Jesus go into the house of Zacchaeus to eat with him. Jesus reminds them of what he said to Matthew. In Luke 19:10, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The people should not scoff at Jesus hanging out with sinners because that’s what Jesus came for: bringing sinners to repentance.

Conclusion

 

I purposely placed those Biblical accounts in that order so you can see a common, building theme. The theme climaxes with Luke 19:10. Christ’s yearning was for sinners to come to God. So Jesus came down from heaven so that sinners may one day be lifted up to see God face-to-face and live with him forever. Now throw in what I said about what Jesus was doing with borrowing the Jews’ derogatory term. By purposely targeting someone looked down on in Jewish society, Jesus made a bold statement to the Jews. No one can be so stooped down in sin that he or she cannot be saved. Jesus wants to love everyone and wants everyone to repent of sin and come to Him. If Jesus is a friend of tax collectors, he’ll be a friend of me.

Acknowledgement

I am eternally grateful to Dr. Dough Buckwalter, New Testament professor at Evangelical Seminary, for the original texts and originally sources.