Four Prayers that Don’t Work, Part 4: The Prayer of Comparison

Luke 18:9-14     

It occurred to me this week that we are living in an age of self-service. When I go to the grocery store I usually head to the self-check line where I scan and bag my own groceries, pay my bill, and then I tell myself, “Thank you for shopping at Acme! Have a good day.”

When I pay my bills I don’t receive a letter in the mail, with a return envelope. I keep a note on my calendar to remember when the bill is due, then I go onto the company’s website, login, and submit my payment electronically. I go to the ATM machine to make deposits and to withdraw cash. And the list goes on.

And so, in that spirit, it occurred to me that this is a pretty straightforward parable we have today. So obvious that I imagine you can interpret it yourself. Let this be a self-service sermon.

Because it is obvious that the parable is demonstrating for us here that the arrogance of the Pharisee is both distasteful and wrong. His prayer is little more than a pat on his own back. “Thank you, God, for making me a great guy. Amen.”

It’s an embarrassment to all of us who believe in prayer.

Then on the other side, we have the tax collector who hangs his head and cries out to God, “Have mercy on me, for I am a sinner.” He humbly confesses his sinfulness, as one should.

You don’t even need me to say it: Be more like the tax collector and less like the Pharisee. It’s a good message, important message. And if I left you to it, I am sure you could gather into small groups and have some very fruitful discussions about the matter. On reflection, you might be able to recall times you have been a bit like that Pharisee when you probably should have been more like the tax collector in your prayers. You could find encouragement to be more forthright in confessing your sins to God, knowing that you will be forgiven. Thanks be to God.

This sermon delivers itself, doesn’t it? I could end it right there.

But since there is time, I'll mention a couple of things that may be worth considering.

The Pharisee does seem self-satisfied. But that is because he is doing all the things he knows he is supposed to be doing. According to the Jewish understanding of righteousness, he is blameless – and then some. He is expected to fast once a week, but he fasts twice a week. The law requires him to tithe on his harvest, but he is tithing on all his income. This man is doing what is required of him. He may be doing above and beyond what is required of him.

What I can tell you about Pharisees, from what I have read, is that they were extremely concerned about righteousness before God, and the law of God was the means by which it would be measured. So, therefore, it was better to set a higher standard. Don’t just do the minimum. Do more than what is demanded.

This Pharisee was in a really good mood on this day, maybe because he had a really good week – a week in which he succeeded in doing all the good he had set out to do. He gives himself a high five. And he says, “Thank you God for allowing me to do it. Thank you for not making me like this tax collector.”

This tax collector – we know that he was a despised man among his people. He was working for the occupation forces, enriching them. Furthermore, he was enriching himself off the backs of his brothers and sisters. He was dealing in dirty money – unrighteous mammon, as the King James Bible would say.

Yet this tax collector had as much right to be in the temple praying as the Pharisee did. He also observed the law of God. He is truly sorry for his sins, as we can see from his prayer begging for mercy.

But, still, it would be fair to ask the tax collector: And now what? Now that you have acknowledged your sin, what will you do next?

To us, perhaps, the Pharisee looks like a hypocrite. He spouts off pious language all day long, but then in his prayer he makes snide remarks about tax collectors and others he deems lesser creatures. For shame!

And equally, to us, the tax collector looks honestly repentant. Look at his posture, listen to his words. He knows he is nothing more than a worm. God bless him for his humility!

But do we forget that the Pharisee is doing his best every day to live a life obedient to God’s law? And do we ever wonder whether there is any substance behind the tax collector’s prayer of confession? Is it only words, or is there more?

There is, perhaps, much more than first met the eye with this parable.

Jesus told this parable to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” That might have included some Pharisees. It probably included some Pharisees. But it wasn’t exclusive to Pharisees.

The truth of the matter is we are all, every one of us, susceptible to that sin of trusting in ourselves. We are all guilty, as well, of regarding others with contempt.

And it is just as true that we are all susceptible to the sin of lamenting our shortcomings without ever intending to change a thing.

The message of this parable is about judging others. It’s about the sin of comparing ourselves to others for the purpose of somehow inflating our self-image, our self-confidence. We see it clearly in the Pharisee’s prayer. Of the Four Prayers that Don’t Work, as I have called this series, the prayer of comparison is definitely one of them. Comparing ourselves to others will not serve us or God or the world in any way at all. It will only serve our egos.

And this also means that we must guard against praying the prayer, “Thank you God that I am not like this Pharisee!” Because we are. Let’s not treat the Pharisee like the sinner and the tax collector like the saint. Both are sinners. Both are subject to the same law. And both are beloved children of God.

Let us not stand in judgment of either man – the Pharisee or the tax collector. Because in truth we are both of these men. We, too, judge others we think we are superior to. And we, too, often confess our sins and then utterly neglect to practice real repentance.

These two men, the Pharisee and the tax collector, are offering different kinds of prayers:

The Pharisee prays a prayer of thanksgiving – thanks for all that he has been given that allows him to live in obedience to God’s law. We, too, should offer prayers of thanksgiving for every single way God has enabled us to live our lives well.

The tax collector prays a prayer of confession for his sinfulness. Yes, we should also offer such prayers each day for all that is in us that falls short of the glory of God.

In the end, here is what we can say: We are sinners. We are forgiven. We do not need to measure ourselves against anyone else. We only need to surrender to God’s grace, which may then grow in us and through us more than we could ever imagine or hope for. Because nothing compares to the grace of God.