Daily Thought

The setting of the Saviour’s parable was a familiar sight in the first century. The scene is Herod’s temple. The time is either the morning or the evening appointed time of prayer. The temple service is fully in operation. The priests are busy in their duty, and the sacrifice is burning on the altar. Presently, amid the normal business of the day with the general crowd moving to and fro, the Saviour focuses our attention upon two men.

The men are very different in person. One is a Pharisee the other a tax-collector. They are likewise different in their position. One confidently takes his place, and aloof from others he occupies as prominent a place as possible. The other man is ashamed and accordingly stands at a distance as one who, be cause of a sense of sinfulness, feels unfit for God’s presence. They were also different in their prayers. The Pharisee’s attempt to pray was more an extended soliloquy of self-congratulation than a supplication. He asked for nothing and received nothing. The other man was brief and broken in his plea. Their profit was also different. The only satisfaction the Pharisee obtained was the gratification of his pride. He made the parade of his piety and probably felt the better for it. The tax collector received the pardon of sin and was declared right before God.

His cry ‘be merciful’ is significant. It refers to the making of propitiation for sins. It is a word that takes us to the altar where atonement is made. While he prays, the altar burns, and on the basis of the accepted sacrifice he pleads for mercy and receives forgiveness. It is also a word which takes us to the mercy-seat. This man, though standing at a distance in an outer court, has offered a humble, contrite plea such as reaches the innermost sanctuary of God.

The descendants of the Pharisee and the tax collector are with us still! Let us abandon all hope in self-righteousness, and let the cry of the tax collector be our cry. We find mercy flowing freely from the throne of God through a greater sacrifice. This is the ultimate sacrifice of all the ages, offered by the Lord Jesus on the cross.