MORALITY OR MERCY?

“THE QUESTION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” —Luke 18:9–14 (CSB)

THE PARABLE:

THE AUDIENCE: Those who trusted in

that they were righteous & looked down on everybody else.

THE CHARACTERS: The Pharisee would’ve been seen as a spiritual

. The tax collector would’ve been seen as a

and a thief.

THE PRIZE BOTH MEN PURSUED:

These are two totally different men praying two totally different prayers but pursing the same exact thing:

.

We are all on a quest for righteousness. We all want to know and be told we are acceptable. It’s part of our original

.

THE WAY EACH MAN PURSUED IT:

The Pharisee appealed to his personal moral

and accomplishments to establish his righteousness.

He measured his righteousness in

to other people’s failures (and his own over-achievement.)

The Tax Collector appealed to God’s

and grace to establish his righteousness.

He understood that he could not be made righteous without

for sin.

WHO WINS THE PRIZE:

It was the Tax Collector, not the Pharisee, who went home

before God.

Receiving the prize of righteousness all boils down to the issue of authority and

.

Righteousness in the eyes of God comes through the atoning sacrifice of

. (Hebrews 2:17)

This parable is cast in the shadow of the

.