Commentary on The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector - Luke 18:9-14

Morally Anarchic Forgiveness

Jesus tells the story of a religious leader and a tax collector who go to pray. The religious leader prays about himself and how thankful he is good and clean and great and not like the tax collector. The tax collector can't even approach the altar because he is ashamed. He beats his chest at a distance and says "God have mercy upon me the sinner."

Jesus says God didn't forgive the first, but forgave the second.

There are a thousand sermons about how humility and repentance are important, and how we should be like the tax collector.

But, that's like saying, you should be like a Bernie Maydoff or Patrick Henry. Tax collectors were despised people, betraying their nation and their families to collect taxes for the army that just conquered them.

What matters in the story is not mankind's humility, but God capacity to forgive.

It's sad that this story, whose meaning would have been so obvious to anyone at that time, that God ability to forgive is almost morally anarchic, has been turned into just another requirement to get God's mercy. The emphasis has been switched from God's ability to forgive to mankind's need to manipulate and earn that forgiveness.