Not Much of a Joke
“A rabbi and a priest walked into a bar …” Any story that begins that way is bound to be a joke. Jesus begins a story like this; except it’s not a rabbi or a priest or a bar. His story begins with a Pharisee and a tax collector going to the temple (read the story from Luke 18).
These two men lived on the opposite ends of the social, religious, and political spectrum. A Pharisee was passionate about God’s commands and seeing the nation of Israel liberated from its oppressor, the Roman Empire. The tax collector was a bit of a different story.
His trade was known for corruption. Tax collectors were known to collude with Rome, bilk money from their fellow citizens, and it was safe to assume they didn't care much for God’s commands.
These two come to the temple to pray. The Pharisee goes first, confidently saying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
Then it’s the tax collector’s turn. This guy stands in the back, can’t even look up, beats his chest in mourning and barely mutters the words, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus concluded, “I tell you the tax collector, rather than the Pharisee, went home right with God.”
Those in the audience would not have thought this was much of a joke, since many were those confident in their own ability to be right with God. Some may even have been thinking, “I don’t get it,” and today, many still don’t.
To pray along with the tax collector is to tell God that we don’t have it all figured out, that we are messed-up, and that we haven’t gotten everything right before showing up. It’s to lay bare before God and simply say, “Help.”
But we are far too sophisticated to do that kind of thing anymore aren’t we? While we may not pray exactly like the Pharisee, we still think that somehow all of our good behavior or religious fervor will impress God. This is why so many of us do all we can to appear as though we’ve got our lives worked out. In reality, what we allow people to see is false front built to hide our hurting and broken souls.
A friend recently lamented to me, “The world I live in pretends that everyone is perfect. So if you do something imperfect you get crapped on. Why can’t we all recognize that we are imperfect. Then, if you happen do something perfect, we can celebrate that.”
His world is sad, but unfortunately for many, it’s true. Perhaps our prayers for ourselves and others should have more heart and less words. Maybe all we need to say is, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
“I tell you that the one who prays that prayer will go home right with God.”