The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Trinity 11| Luke 18:9-14| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| August 31, 2025
Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. What does Jesus mean by those words? Jesus answers that question with His parable about the Pharisee and the tax-collector. The Pharisee exalted himself, and so he was humbled, that is, he lifted himself up high and God brought him down low. And so, people conclude that to exalt oneself means to be a Pharisee. So, the lesson they learn from Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector is to not be a Pharisee. Pharisees were religious conservatives, so don’t be a religious conservative. Pharisees strictly followed their religion, so don’t follow your religion too strictly. Pharisees regularly went to worship and read the Bible, so don’t go to worship too often and don’t take the Bible too seriously. Pharisees strictly obeyed the law, didn’t cheat or steal or commit adultery, so don’t be too fanatical about obeying the law, and have loose standards of sexual purity. Pharisees fasted and paid tithes, so don’t practice bodily discipline for religious reasons nor give offerings to the church, lest you be found to be a Pharisee. This is the lesson many take from Jesus’ parable. Avoid looking like a Pharisee, a religious do-gooder. And to make sure that you are not a Pharisee, you better compare yourself to other religious people, whom you have designated by your own judgment to be Pharisees.
But that is not what it means to be a Pharisee. And that is not what Jesus is trying to warn us against with this parable. Rather, Jesus told this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. So, what Jesus means by those who exalt themselves is those who trust in themselves that they are righteous and treat others with contempt. That is what the Pharisee did in Jesus’ parable. He trusted in himself that he was righteous, and he despised his neighbor. And so, He was humbled by God. He went down to his house condemned, not justified in God’s sight. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled means that God will condemn those who trust in themselves that they are righteous.
Those who trust in themselves that they are righteous naturally treat other people with contempt, because if they were to judge themselves by the law alone, they would only see their own sin. So, to avoid condemning themselves before God, they bring others with them to present their sins and transgressions before God’s judgment throne. This is what the Pharisee did in Jesus’ parable. He doesn’t stand before God’s judgement seat alone, but rather drags others with him, so that he can compare himself to them before God. “Look God, I am not like these terrible sinners. these thieves, adulterers, undisciplined cheats, or even like this tax-collector!” In order to justify himself before God, he must condemn others to make himself look better. But you do not get to drag others before God’s judgment throne to make yourself look better. Each person must stand alone and be judged according to God’s law. And God’s law demands perfection. This is why St. Paul writes in Romans 3 that no one will be justified before God by works of the law, because through the law comes knowledge of sin (vs. 20).
And so, neither can you be justified before God by comparing yourself with others. Not even condemning the Pharisees will justify you before God. There is no neck you can step on to exalt yourself. God will cast you down if you try. Everyone who exalts himself will be condemned by God.
What then does Jesus mean that everyone who humbles himself will be exalted? For that, Jesus points us to the humble tax-collector. Tax-collectors were betrayers of their people, working for the occupying Roman government to collect tax from their own people. What’s worse, they frequently abused their office by collecting more than they were authorized, knowing that there was little their kinsmen could do against such theft. Jesus could hardly have picked a more hated sinner than a tax-collector. Yet, Jesus is not teaching you to become a social outcast. Rather, He is teaching you to humble yourself by praying like this sinful man.
Unlike the Pharisee who dragged all his hated neighbors and acquaintances before God’s judgment throne to be condemned before him, the tax-collector does not bring anyone else before God’s throne to be compared to him. Rather, he stands alone and identifies himself alone as the sinner. He’s not interested in condemning anyone else or comparing his sins to anyone else. He stands alone before God. He doesn’t bother listing off his good deeds before God to try to soften the judgment. In fact, he doesn’t even list off the sins he wants forgiven. Rather, he identifies himself as the sinner. All his sins are already known to God, because it is against Him alone that he has sinned. And why did he cheat and steal as tax-collectors were wont to do? Because he is a sinner. Sinners sin, just as apple trees produce apples and vipers, venom.
This does not mean that you should not repent to God for particular sins, but rather you should realize that you sin because you are a sinner. Perhaps there is a sin that you have struggled with in the past, but have finally gotten control of it, so that it does not bother you anymore. You are not thereby justified. You are still a sinner, whether you know of something against you or not. The statement, “Be merciful to me, the sinner,” is the perfect prayer for all of us. Why have I dishonored my God so many times with my thoughts, words, and deeds? Why have I failed to love God and my neighbor as I ought? Why have I done those things that I hate and which bring me shame and have not done those things which I love and would bring me honor? Because I am a sinner. I don’t need a few transgressions to be forgiven. I need to be forgiven. I need to be covered with God’s mercy. I need God to forgive me personally for being a poor, miserable, sinner.
And so, the tax-collector stands alone before God and confesses himself to be the sinner without accusing anyone else. He stands alone, and yet, he’s not alone. And he knows that he is not alone. And we know this by the word he uses for “have mercy” when he says, “Have mercy on me, the sinner.” He does not use the ordinary word for mercy, but rather he uses a word that means be propitiated or make atonement for me. Scripture uses a similar word in Leviticus, when the priest sacrifices an animal on the altar to make atonement for sin (Lev. 1:4; 4:20; 26, etc). So, the tax-collector is not simply pleading for God’s mercy. He is pleading for the sake of the sacrifice, which has shed its blood and is being offered on the altar. The Pharisee and the tax-collector went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee ignored the sacrifice offered at the temple. The tax-collector didn’t. Because he did not trust in himself that he was righteous, rather he trusted in the sacrifice that God promised would atone for his sins.
Of course, not all the blood of bulls and goats could make atonement for sin. Yet, these sacrifices prophesied of the coming Christ who would make atonement for sin. St. Paul again uses a very similar word to that which the tax-collector uses for “have mercy,” when he writes in Romans 3, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” St. John also uses this word in his first epistle, the second chapter, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2) Propitiation means that God’s wrath against our sins is taken away, that he is satisfied with the sacrifice. It means that atonement has been made. When the tax-collector prayed, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner,” he literally prayed, “God, be propitiated to me, the sinner,” or “God, accept the sacrifice of atonement for me, the sinner.”
And so, the tax-collector did not go alone before the judgment throne of God to plead for mercy. He did not drag other sinners with him like the Pharisee did either. Rather, the tax-collector presented Christ before the judgment throne and said, “There is my righteousness. There is my atonement. God, accept this atonement which Christ as made. Be propitiated toward me for Christ’s sake.”
That is what it means to humble yourself and so be exalted by God. It means to be justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ apart from your works. The Pharisee trusted in his own works. The tax-collector trusted in Him who justifies sinners for Christ’s sake. And this is the consistent teaching of Scripture. When the patriarch Jacob prayed to God, he said, “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that You have shown to Your servant…,” yet he continued, “But You said, ‘I will surely do you good…’” (Gen. 32:10, 12) To humble yourself means to acknowledge your own unworthiness, yet to cling to God’s promise and plead to God according to His promise. God promises to justify those who trust in Christ Jesus, who has made atonement for our sins.
And so, when you humble yourself before God by acknowledging yourself as the sinner and by pleading for God’s mercy for the sake of Christ, you go down to your house justified before God. That is why we come to church. We come to lay not only our sins, but our very selves before God, so that we may receive His mercy for Christ’s sake, who suffered and died for our sins, so that we may go down to our houses justified. But what does it mean to go down to your house justified? Why should you desire that?
To go down to your house justified means that you are at peace with God. St. Paul writes in Romans 5, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Is there anything you can desire more than peace with God? The Pharisee didn’t seek peace with God. He certainly didn’t seek peace with his neighbor. Rather, he sought to soothe his conscience before himself by convincing himself that he was righteous. But it was a lie. And so, everyone who seeks inner peace apart from Christ Jesus lies to himself. You cannot have inner peace unless you have peace with God. And when you are justified through faith in Christ, God is at peace with you. He is not angry with you. He does not threaten to punish you. Rather, He calls you His child and promises you eternal life, so that you can even face tribulation now and still rejoice. If you have peace with God, then nothing in all creation can take that away from you (Romans 8).
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, that is, condemned by God. But whoever humbles himself for Christ’s sake will be exalted. Your heart will be exalted today by being at peace with God, and your soul will be exalted in eternity when you are declared righteous before His throne. May God grant each of us such a humble and contrite spirit, so that we may obtain the righteousness and peace promised to us for Christ’s sake. Amen.