Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 17:6-7
Lord, my God, I call on you, for I know you will answer me;
Turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
Reveal to me the wonders of your great love,
for You are the God who saves all those who take refuge in you
Amen.
Reading
You have to admire the absolute commitment of the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. Here was a man who was so passionately devoted to his chosen path that he not only fasted once a year on the Day of Atonement (as required by the Law of Moses), but also twice a week. Just stop to admire that for a moment. Twice a week!
Furthermore, he not only gave a tithe (10%) of his produce as required by the Law, he even tithed on his garden herbs. This was a man totally committed to his cause. But as the parable unfolds, it becomes painfully clear that this man’s true cause was not to honour the Lord (as it should have been). His true cause was to impress other people and win their admiration. That’s why he stood in a very public space in the Temple courts and prayed. In fact, the Greek in v.11 can be interpreted, “He prayed to himself” (AMP), or “with himself” (NKJV) or even “about himself” (CSB).
Under cover of his prayer, he stood to recite his religious excellences to any who would listen! This was what I like to call a “horizontal prayer”. It was never intended to go “up” to God. It was intended to go “sideways” to reach the ears of those who were with him in the Temple courts. And if God overheard his prayer, he seems to have thought it would only confirm what he believed must surely be God’s high opinion of him.
The tax collector, by absolute contrast adopted a position of deep humility and contrition. He bowed his head in humble acknowledgment of his guilt and unworthiness before God. He was clearly ashamed of the life choices he had made, and he cried out desperately to God for mercy.
The religious people listening to Jesus’ parable for the first time would have fervently believed that both men were right about themselves. The Pharisee was super-righteous in their eyes and deserved their honour and God’s blessing, while the tax collector was despised as a depraved individual who deserved nothing but their rejection and God’s punishment. So, Jesus’ conclusion would have shocked them to the core. He said,
14 ‘I tell you that this man (the tax collector), rather than the other (the Pharisee), went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
William Barclay fantastically summarised the point of the parable with this powerful one-liner in his Daily Study Bible:
No man who is proud can pray. The gate of heaven is so low that none can enter it save upon his knees.
Heaven’s gate is so low that it can only be entered by the humble. I love that image. And it’s so true!
Today, let’s take Jesus’ lesson to heart and humble ourselves before our God. Let’s acknowledge that He is perfect and we are not, and that everything we receive from Him is pure grace. Let’s have a heart of humble dependence on Him, and work to eradicate all self-righteousness and pride from our hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over and over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will humble myself before the LORD.
- I will reject any sense of self-righteousness and pride.
- I will fully rely on the LORD to supply all my needs from His endless supply of grace and mercy.
Holy Spirit, purify my heart of all pride and empower me to humble myself under the Father’s mighty hand. Amen.
Dave's Diary 