Thread by @dianabutlerbass

Preaching tomorrow on Luke 18:9-14, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector - and will NOT turn the Pharisee into an anti-Jewish trope.

Because - reminding all Christian preachers - the Pharisees are the origins of rabbinic Judaism.

Christians often read this story as a tale of a hypocrite and a sinner - and that the hypocrite is judged harshly and the sinner gets saved.

But that wouldn't be the way that Jesus's followers (who, if you need to be reminded, were Jews) would have heard the story.

The Pharisee would have been a hero, and the tax collector the worst of traitors and collaborators.

The Pharisee is like a super-saint. He fasts TWICE a week! (No Jewish law asks that.) And he gives a full tithe! (Who among us does so? Pretty rare thing.)

People hearing this story would have been cheering for him, wanting to emulate him. He's a good guy.

He's at the Temple. He's praying a prayer of gratitude, one equivalent to something we pray all the time: "There but for the grace of God, go I."

He's not a hypocrite. He's reminding God that he's a faithful guy. That he's taken it all seriously. And he knows that God has given him the gifts of the Law.

Jesus' first hearers would have been upset by the tax collector. What's a tax collector doing at the Temple? Tax collectors don't ask for mercy. They demand money - money that doesn't belong to them.

Jesus' friends would be steamed when that guy shows up.

Despite the fact that tax collectors are wretched humans, this one is courageous enough to come to the Temple and plead with God for mercy. He begs God for God's gift of grace and forgiveness. He seeks atonement.

His bravery makes me not entirely hate him. And his humility, well, that's a real surprise.

And, good Jews would know what was true. If you show up and ask for God's gifts of mercy, God is wildly generous. God gives.

There they are - Pharisee and Tax Collector, both recipients of God's gift of mercy.

Both, you say? But the text says that the tax collector "went down to his home justified rather than the other." So, the Pharisee isn't "saved," only the tax collector. God apparently likes sinners more than hypocrites.

TEXT TRANSLATION ALERT!

The term "para" that is translated as "rather than" can also be translated as "alongside of." "Para" is a notoriously slippery Greek preposition.

The alternative translation is that the tax collector "went down to his home justified alongside the other."

They are BOTH justified. Alongside one another. Pharisee and tax collector alike, side-by-side, gifted with mercy.

The gifts come to BOTH. BOTH. Pharisee & tax collector. We might not like it. But God is a wilding gifting God, throwing manna from heaven on everyone, whether we have been faithful or not. We stand alongside each other, in humble gratitude, no matter the circumstance.

And that makes this parable (notice "para"ble - a story that comes "alongside" us and upsets us) a paradox - that Pharisee and tax collector, the extreme saint and the vile sinner, both receive God's gifts, both express gratitude.

This isn't an either/or parable, it is a both/and one.

And paradoxical parables are always the work of the Paraclete. 😉❤️

Don't fall into anti-Semitic interpretations tomorrow. Try to preach this as did Jesus-the-Rabbi to his Jewish friends. Put yourself in their shoes. The Pharisee is a hero; the Temple is a beautiful, holy place; the tax collector is upsetting; God's mercy is limitless.