Tuesday, April 9 - Luke 18. From Ryan Anderson

Tuesday April 9th- Luke 18
Mercy

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” (Lk 18:13)

What is your opinion of yourself? Do you tend to focus on the things you’ve done right, or the things you’ve done wrong?

I know that I like to focus on my accomplishments and positives, which I think is true for most of us. We like to be surrounded by admirers and hear about our deeds. But at what point does our desire for this praise become self-righteousness? Is there a danger of using these deeds to “brag” about our own accomplishments?

This is the attitude of the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. He comes into the Temple and prays about himself and what he has done. He even throws in an insult of the tax collector, who is standing mere feet away. The Pharisee believes that he is alright in the sight of God. Remember that the whole context of this parable is “to some who were confident of their own righteousness” (Lk 18:9).

By contrast, we have the actions and words of the tax collectors. Tax collectors were incredibly wealthy, due to their cheating schemes and swindling of the people. No one in ancient Israel really liked these men. This tax collector could have bragged about his riches, but did not even look up to heaven. The only thing he asked for is mercy, because he was a sinner.

I think this is a helpful model for us to follow. The tax collector had come to the realization that he had nothing to give God, but could only enter Heaven by God’s grace. The Law had done its work, and this man now cried out for the saving power of the Gospel. Verse 14 tells us that the Lord provided this, for “he went home justified before God.” It was nothing inherent in the man that caused this, but the grace of God alone.

In the same way, may the Lord continue to justify us and save us by the power of His mercy.