The Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee

The text of the Gospel says that the parable of the publican and the Pharisee was addressed by the Savior to people who boast of their righteousness and humiliate others, considering them to be lower than themselves. Therefore, its purpose is to show that no one should judge his righteousness on the basis of his own ideas on this account and treat others with contempt ^[1] .

John MacArthur notes that the parable of the publican and the Pharisee illustrates how a sinner who has absolutely no personal righteousness can be considered righteous before God through the act of faith and repentance. Confidence in innate righteousness is a vain hope that leads to condemnation (cf. Rom.10: 3, Phil. 3: 9).

Blessed Theophylact reveals the meaning of this parable as: "... righteousness, even if it deserved surprise in other respects and brought the person closer to God Himself, but if he allowed himself to be arrogant, he would throw the person to the lowest level and liken him to a demon."

Thus, the image of a person relying on his righteousness and exalted by her, in the parable stands the Pharisee, who came to pray at the temple .

“The Pharisee, having become, prayed in himself like this: God! Thank You, that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this tax collector ...” (Luke 18:11)

From the words of the Pharisee to God, it turns out that his purpose is not a prayer, but a message about his nobleness. According to the commentary of the Dalass Seminary, other people served as the yardstick of righteousness to the Pharisee. However, it all depends on who we compare ourselves with. And if we compare our life with the life of Jesus Christ and the holiness of God, we will only have to say: "God! Be a merciful to me a sinner!" ^[2]

The tax collector, who also came to the temple, asks for mercy towards himself, repents, beats his chest and does not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven, although the latter was usually for Jewish prayer. The movements of the tax collector expose deep repentance of their sins. His prayer is utterly brief, because fear and shame did not allow him to say more. ^[3]

For all this the publican left the temple more justified than the Pharisee. “For every high-ranking is unclean to the Lord, and the Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Prov. 3:34).

Thus, the Lord reminded His audience that, in contrast to the external human manifestations of righteousness, a humble spirit is more pleasing to God, and pride diminishes the height of any feat.

• Although this story is called a parable, there is no analogy here. It is rather a description of the various characters and sayings of those who proudly justify themselves, and those who humbly condemn themselves, as well as their various positions before God. These are facts from everyday life. Interpretation of Matthew Henry

• The goal of the parable was undoubtedly to lower the consciousness of dignity among the disciples of Christ (the “elect” - verse 7) and to teach them humility. Christ could not turn to the Pharisees with a parable in which the Pharisee directly appears. Moreover, the Pharisee, derived in the parable, would not have seemed to the Pharisees to deserve the condemnation from God: his prayer should have seemed to them to be absolutely correct. Intelligent Bible Lopukhina

• Two people entered the temple to pray ... It was not the hour of common prayer; they came to the temple for the personal worship of God, as pious people usually did at a time when the temple was not only a place, but also a means of worship. God promised in response to Solomon’s request that any prayer made in the temple, or in the direction of the temple, would be heard sooner. Christ is our temple, turning to God, we must look to Him. Interpretation of Matthew Henry

• The Pharisee, with all his pride, could not put himself above prayer, and the tax collector, with all his humility, could not look at himself as being deprived of the right to resort to prayer. Interpretation of Matthew Henry

• Admit that the Pharisee did not say in the singular: I am not a robber, not an adulteress, like others. He did not allow even in words to attach a diarrhea name solely to his face, but he used these names in the plural, about others. T shining of the Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria

• His [Pharisee] behavior was typical of the worst in pharisaism. Here is a preserved record of one rabbi’s prayer: “I thank You, Lord, my God, that You allowed me to belong to those who sit in the Academy, and not to those who sit at the crossroads of streets; for I get up early and they get up early : I get up for the words of the law, and they for the sake of vain deeds, I work, and they work: I work and get a reward, but they work and do not get it; I run, and they run: I run to the life of the next world, but they are to hell. " There is written evidence that Rabbi Jakaya once said: "If there are only two righteous people in the world, then they are me and my son, but if there is only one righteous person in the world, then this is me!" Comments Barkley

• After such a prayer, the publican "went" (more precisely, "got off", cf. verse 10) home "justified," God recognized him as righteous and made him feel it with a special joy of the heart, a special feeling of tenderness and tranquility (Trench, p. 423), because justification is not only an act performed in God, but also passes on to a justified person. The thought of this justification, as combining the recognition of a person as righteous, and the assimilation of God's righteousness by a person, was revealed even before the writing of the Gospel of Luke by the Apostle Paul in his Epistles, and, no doubt, the Evangelist Luke, using the phrase "justified," understood him as his teacher, the apostle Paul. Intelligent Bible Lopukhina

• From this parable we will surely learn a lot about prayer:

1. A proud man is incapable of praying. The gates of heaven are so low that you can enter them only on your knees;
2. A man who despises his brothers cannot pray;
3. Prayer compares our life with the life of God.

Comments Barkley

The words of the gospel publican became a penitential Christian prayer, called the Prayer of the Publican .

In the divine service of the Orthodox Church, this parable is read during the liturgy on Sunday, called the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee. It comes three weeks (weeks) before the beginning of Lent . From Matins (one of the parts of the liturgy of these days, usually performed on the preceding Saturday evening), the use of the Lenten Triodion, a collection of liturgical texts intended for use during Lent, begins.

In a sign that the life of Christians should be based on humility, the model of which is Christ’s humility, and not pride, exemplified by the Pharisee’s opinion of himself from the parable, the Charter of the Church cancels fast on Wednesday and Friday of the week that starts the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee. This establishment symbolizes the Christian’s refusal of the supposed righteousness of the Pharisee ( “... I am forgiven twice a week ...” ).

Motives of parable in the songs of the Lenten Triodion:

Let us not pray phariseically, brethren: for exalt yourselves shall be humbled. Let us humble ourselves before God, with a cry of vainness, with a cry of vainness: O God, clean, sinners.

The Pharisee conquered vanity, and the tax collector bowed down to repentance, the same Master of the descendants to You: but you slaughtered them, deprived of the good: they said nothing but endowed with talents. In this rejoicing, establish me Christ, O God, like a lover of mankind.

God, Almighty, Lord, God, Tears: Tears: Hezekiah, from the gates of mortals, he raised from sin, he saved sinners from many years of sin, the tax collector more than Pharisee Justify, and I pray with them, have mercy on me.

A publican and a Pharisee, the difference is understanding my soul, he hate horny prideful voice, jealous well-behaved prayer, and yelling: God cleanse me a sinner, and have mercy on me.

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