The Storyteller - Part 5

Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Mark Rouse / October 31, 2021

Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own ^{righteousness} and scorned everyone else: ¹⁰ “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.” —Luke 18:9-10

¹¹ “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people — cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! ¹² I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’” —Luke 18:11-12

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¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ —Luke 18:13

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¹⁴ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” —Luke 18:14

Jesus Calls Matthew and Eats with Sinners

²⁷ Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. ²⁸ So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. ²⁹ Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. ³² I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” —Luke 5:27-32

²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. —2 Corinthians 5:21

Question for reflection:

Whose

Reveal Answer

am I trusting in?