Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, March 15, 2013 Read – Luke 18:9-17 The parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee and the story of Jesus blessing the children which are our reading for today present us with a distinct contrast. That’s probably why Luke joined them together in his gospel. Only Luke tells the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee at prayer. The previous parable had also been about prayer and the need to not lose heart – to be persistent even though suffering seems contrary to what one might expect within the kingdom of God. We have noticed that prayer is an important part of Luke’s gospel – more important than for any other writer. So what is prayer to be like? The Pharisee represents one idea about prayer – the Tax Collector another. It is interesting that the prayer of the Pharisee resembles the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 17. In a rather back-handed way the Pharisee is thankful to God that God has led him to the “good life.” He is not without defense from the OT. Can one not be thankful for not having fallen victim to the enticement of sin in this world? On the other hand the Tax Collector’s prayer resembles the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 51. The point is that both prayers seem to have some relevance in the religious life of Jewish people. Why is one condemned and the other praised? The hook in the parable is that the Pharisee trusted in himself and the Tax Collector trusted in God – and that makes all the difference. The Pharisee has the appearance of righteousness – and appearance turns out to be all there is. Of course this parable has a strange way of grabbing Luke’s readers by the ears and making them painfully aware of human nature – who of us has not thought to ourselves, “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee”? Ouch, how easy it is to become what we don’t want to become! Luke’s lesson is that prayer is about trusting God. And that leads us to the other story of the day – the story of Jesus blessing the children. Children were the lowest of all people in the society of Jesus time – they were below women and just above slaves. Children were not important. Jesus used children as examples of what it means to be a follower. He will use children again in Luke’s gospel. We do not know why the disciples tried to keep the children from Jesus. All three synoptic gospel writers tell this story. None of the writers tells us the motive of the disciples. Since Mark generally puts the disciples in a negative light it may be that the idea comes from Mark and Luke and Matthew are simply stuck with it – or it may be that the story reflects exactly what happened – which means that we are back to wondering why the disciples reacted as they did. For Luke, placing this story next to the story of the self-righteous Pharisee emphasized the fault of the Pharisee and highlights the rightness of the Tax Collector. We should notice how Luke has softened the story – Jesus does not become indignant with his disciples. We have noticed how Luke continually puts the disciples in a more favorable light than Mark did. Before we leave these two stories it is important for us to notice that Luke has once again picked up Mark as his main source. Luke will continue to follow Mark with modifications for the rest of his gospel. As was mentioned previously, Luke picks up Mark almost exactly where he had left off following him. The one episode that Luke omits is Mark’s story of the Pharisees testing Jesus about divorce. As we noted, Luke has already dealt with divorce in a much shorter context and may have simply chosen to omit Mark to avoid being redundant – or perhaps Luke wanted to omit Mark’s sharp criticism of the Pharisees. Not only does Luke put the disciples in a more favorable light but he also consistently puts the Pharisees in a more favorable light. We will see that trend continue as we move along in Luke’s gospel.