The Joyous Joke of Justification
Luke 18:9-14
August 31, 2025 anno Domini
This parable sounds like the first of all the jokes that begin “two men walked into a bar” except in this case it’s “two men went up to the temple to pray.”
I think Jesus smiled or even smirked as He told some of the parables, because He couldn’t wait to deliver the punch line, the twist in the story — something you never saw coming because the Kingdom of God operates by the folly of God’s love. That’s certainly the case in this parable – the villainous tax collector goes home justified – right with God, while the righteous guy – the Pharisee goes home damned. I’m guessing they were both surprised by the ending.
Let’s look at these two guys who went into the temple that we might learn about justification, repentance, and faith. Let’s consider this parable that we might in the end laugh with joy because God justifies sinners like us.
Outwardly these men stood at opposite ends of the goodness and respectability scale. The tax collector was despised by his fellow Jews, hired by the Roman government, notorious in his occupation for not only stealing everyone’s money for the black hole of the federal government in Rome, but also for lining his pockets with hidden fees and service charges. He would put your cell phone company to shame with his tricks. Tax collectors were so notorious they were lumped in with prostitutes, drunkards, adulterers, and sinners.
The Pharisee was the man everyone looked up to. He was in the temple at least twice a day for the morning and evening sacrifices. He was the picture of piety. He was never drunk. He was faithful to his wife. He taught his children the catechism every evening before bed. He fasted twice a week. He tithed off his gross income, even though that money grubbing tax collector stole from him. If you knew this Pharisee you wanted his piety.
Which of these two men is right with God? If you’re hearing the parable for the first time, how is it going to end? That’s easy. The Pharisee ends up at the head table in the feast to come and the Tax Collector gets thrown out of the wedding hall, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Two men went up to the temple to pray. So what did they pray? They both prayed themselves. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:11–12, ESV). The Pharisee prayed his personal pride.
The Tax Collector also prayed himself. He knew who he was – a thief and a liar, greedy for gain, a man who despised his neighbor and his nation. He had nothing to boast about. He could not even look up to heaven, or stand near the pious Pharisee. Beating his breast he confessed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Each man’s prayer reveals what is in his heart. The Pharisee is full of himself, especially as he compares himself to others. But do you think that is what God wants to hear? God, I thank you none of my grandchildren were at Assumption Catholic Church this week. That is a disgusting prayer. You can always find someone worse than you, unless you are the tax collector who know the truth of God’s Word. He knew his sin. He prays nothing of himself. He despairs of himself. There is nothing in him that deserves to be in the temple, to speak to God, to receive anything but death and damnation.
You’ve heard the prayers of these two men. Now how do you think the parable will end?
What would justifying faith cost each of these men? The Pharisee would have to change nothing in his life. No one would even notice if he came to faith and trusted God alone. He would not lose any friends. His daily routine would stay the same – still faithful to his wife, still teach his children, still tithe, perhaps joyfully.
The tax collector’s life would be over. He could no longer stand the company of his tax collector friends. Nor they him. If he did not lose his job he would have to quit. His wife would divorce him because they were moving from Stonebrook Estates to a trailer in rural Benton county. Other believers would be leary of him, just as they were of Saint Paul. He was going to be a very lonely, poor and suffering man.
Which end would you rather have? Ease, friends, no change in your behavior, or loss, loneliness and suffering?
That’s the long set up that began with “two men went up to the temple to pray.” Then Jesus, I believe, with a little smirk and a giant smile, delivered the punch line, “I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified, rather than the other.” I don’t think anyone laughed at the folly that God justifies sinners. Remember His audience? He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. The joke was on them, except it’s no joke. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
That’s how the Kingdom of God works. That’s how justification works. The tax collector offered a righteous prayer. “Be merciful to me” – that word “merciful” carries the idea of atonement, that his sin had incurred a debt and it must be paid off. The Tax Collector knew all about debts and credits. He knew that when he handed his books and bounty over to Rome everything better be right, justified — the debts better be paid in full. What he confessed in his prayer was that he carried the debt of his sin and he could not even begin to pay it. He wasn’t asking God to overlook his sin or forget his sin or permit sin. He was asking God to pay for his sin.
That’s the twist not only in the parable, but in all of God’s Word. The joyous punchline of Scripture is that God pays for your sins. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9) God credited Jesus with our sin, and at the cross He paid our debt – by suffering hell, by being abandoned by His Father, by dying. When He cried out, “It is finished” He was saying, “Your debt is paid, in full, done.” – even adulterer sins, drunkard sins, thieving tax collector sins, pastor sins, your sins. Forgiven.
Another twist is that the Pharisee’s sins are also forgiven, but he did not go home justified. Why not? Because pride is the unforgiveable sin. Pride insists that I am right, no matter what I am doing. The substance and center of pride is I. I thank you that I am not like other men – I, I, I.
When you say “I” you are running the verbs. You are doing the work. You are telling God and others that you are the subject and everybody better agree that you are right. When you pray that way, there is no room for justifying faith, because you are justifying yourself.
The Tax Collector prayed “me.” In grammar me is an object, not a subject. Me doesn’t do any work. Me is worked on. When he prays “me” he is confessing “I cannot pay my debts. God, you must pay my debts for me. You must justify me. You must work for me and on me. My only hope is that you, O Lord, are merciful.“
Two men went up to the temple to pray. One went home justified—not the good one, not the popular one, not the proud one. The one who went home justified saw that his sins were worse than anyone else’s. He confessed his helplessness and looked to Christ alone for the payment of his debt.
He went home justified—and I believe, smiling. Perhaps even laughing. Certainly filled with joy at the unexpected twist in his life: that God delights to pay the debt of a sinner like him… like you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.