Jesus had many words to say regarding the attitudes and actions of the Scribes and Pharisees, who he said, “considered themselves righteous but held others in contempt” (Luke 18:9). Through generations of life under the weight of the Law, these religious leaders had devised a man-made way to gain righteousness. Instead of expressly trying to diminish the teaching of the 613 Laws God had given them, they created additional laws to provide loopholes for themselves. These laws, which added intricate instructions for how to carry out God’s commands with additional regulations, were their way of managing sin through external transformation and setting themselves above others. While they appeared righteous on the outside with such strict conformity to rules and regulations, Jesus showed that this was exactly the opposite of their true condition (Luke 23:27-28). Through his teaching he sought to point them to their need for forgiveness, healing and mercy so that they could receive his gift of true righteousness that comes by faith.
The need for forgiveness
Their external adherence to a code of righteousness had fooled them into believing that their works were pleasing to God. Jesus came among them to show the way out of this trap and to help them see their need for forgiveness. Through the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector he painted a picture of two men who were spiritual polar opposites by zooming in on their prayers as they came before God in the temple (Luke 18:9-14). One felt confident that he was set apart from the sinners of the world through his perfect adherence to the Law, while the other was so woefully aware of his sins he could not even look up to heaven but beat his breast and pleaded for God’s mercy (Luke 18:13). Shockingly, Jesus revealed that it was not the first man but the second who “went home justified before God” (Luke 18:14). His acknowledgement of his sin and need for grace and mercy revealed a heart of humility, contrasted with the pride and arrogance of the Pharisee who “flattered himself too much to detect or hate his sin” (Psalm 36:1).
The need for spiritual healing
The Pharisees and religious leaders were deceived into thinking that their external obedience to the Law and separation from the sinner was their source of spiritual health, which was the reason they had such great contempt for others. When Jesus was at Levi’s house, enjoying dinner with his friends, they were offended by his willingness to associate with those who were considered unrighteous and unclean (Luke 5:27-31). They had, on the contrary, worked hard to establish their own set-apart system to prevent this kind of contamination and could not understand how Jesus could be considered righteous while not adhering to the same strict separation. Their accusation opened the door for more instruction as Christ assured them that it was not the healthy who needed a doctor but the sick, and that he had come to call sinners, not the righteous, to salvation (Luke 5:32). Their self-righteousness was the very thing that prevented them from receiving the Great Physician’s healing balm of forgiveness and acceptance.
The need to receive mercy
While Jesus was pointing sinners to salvation through humble reliance on the righteousness of God, whose yoke was easy and burden light, the Pharisees and religious leaders were instructing them on self-reliance -- giving them “cumbersome loads” to carry (Matthew 23:4). They made converts of sinners to their religious system but weighed them down with regulations so that Jesus said their converts became worse off than they were (Matthew 23:15). Instead of allowing the Word of God to point them to Christ so that they could receive much-needed mercy and grace, they used it as an instrument to measure their own righteousness and condemn others.
Only one way forward
Thankfully, Jesus showed them and us the way forward out of the trap of self-righteousness and spiritual self-deception and into the righteousness of Christ. We, like the tax collector, can humble ourselves before God and acknowledge our utter sinfulness in the flesh and our complete inability in our own strength to do anything to fix ourselves and make ourselves righteous before a perfect and holy God. Christ assures us that if we’ve even hated someone in our heart, we’ve committed murder, or looked at another person with lustful desire, we’ve committed adultery, so that “there is no one righteous; not even one” (Romans 3:10-12; Matthew 5:21-45).
We can ask the Lord to reveal those areas of man-made rules and regulations where we have established a covering of self-righteousness and developed contempt for others. When he shows us these areas of sin, we can repent and turn back to the Gospel, which declares that “No one will be justified by trying to keep the Law” But that “the just will live by faith” (Galatians 2:16; Romans 1:17).
We can also ask the Lord to show us the board in our own eye and repent for trying to remove the speck from others’ eyes (Matthew 7:3-5). When we sit in the seat of the big sinner who is saved by grace alone, we will be able to first receive mercy and then to show mercy and grace to other sinners in need of the same grace. The Lord’s passion for seeking and saving the lost will become our passion. And instead of making the Gospel and Christianity an elite group that few can enter, it will become the place where sinners are beckoned to come – where they too can feast on the goodness and faithfulness of the Father and receive his gift of true righteousness through the gift of repentant faith in his Son, Jesus Christ!
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).
