Thank you for listening to Cultivating Growth. We are at the beginning of a new month, and John and I are excited about our topic that we're gonna spend some time in talking about specifically this month from the pages of the New Testament this time. We're gonna spend each week spending a little bit of time and dealing with one particular parable of Jesus. Lots of parables that Jesus used to teach by. We are certainly not able to get to each and every one of them, but we've got four that we're gonna spend some time in dealing with, and I'm certainly looking forward to this conversation, so let's get right to it. Jeremy, you mentioned at the beginning of a new month, we're gonna be tackling parables with each episode throughout the month of September. Today, we're gonna be in Luke chapter 18, and we're gonna talk about the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Parables were certainly a tool that Jesus used quite frequently throughout his teaching. He told numerous parables and, and, and used those stories as a way of conveying very deep, meaningful, spiritual truths to individuals in a way that they could grasp and in a way that they could easily understand. A- and really, it's easy sometimes when we read the parables, they're very simple stories and we can almost take them for granted. And I think when we do that, we lose the genius behind what Jesus was doing. He was conveying concepts to individuals that would have been difficult, if not impossible, for them to fully grasp and understand, but through the use of these simple stories, using everyday analogies that they would understand and be familiar with they were able to take what he was saying and begin to understand it through the stories that he told. And so it truly was a remarkable way of Jesus speaking these truths to people in ways that they can understand. And so when we t- take the parables today and read them, I think we have a responsibility, number one, to make sure that we read it in the context in which it was originally told and not to take it outside of that context. But two, I think sometimes we can do the story injustice if we try to overcomplicate the story itself. The whole purpose was that Jesus is using these stories to simplify truths for people. And because we become so familiar with these stories and because they are so simple, oftentimes in the way that they're told, the, the temptation can be to overcomplicate what Jesus intended to make quite simple. And so today when we read the Pharis - the Parable, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, I think one of the things that we'll do to try to honor that parable is to keep it in its context and to retain the simplicity of the story itself. So I'll read this parable for us really quickly and then Jeremy, you can share some of your initial thoughts on it. So Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse number nine, it says, "Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. I was sitting here thinking as you were opening up, this idea, there is a simplicity to, this parable and, and really all, all of the parables in a lot of ways. And I was, thinking about this parable earlier today. And Jesus certainly uses parables a lot, but there's almost a tactic within the parable that as I was really starting to expand my mind into all of the parables themselves, it, it's a big opportunity for comparisons and contrasts. He compares things. Sometimes it's people as it is here. Sometimes it's inanimate things such as the parable of the sower when he's, comparing different soils. And there are a lot of parables that have, this comparison and contrasting, between two things. And, and ultimately he'll work his way down to, you gotta make a decision on which, way that you wanna go. But then I even thought about that even a little bit further on the simplicity side of things. In most cases, when Jesus finishes comparing and contrasting and we're kinda left with which one is the one that I should go with? Most of the time, I, I wanna, wanna say all the time - Yeah. But I'm sure maybe there's one that he doesn't do this, but most of the time he like gives the answer. Yeah. Like this is, so you don't miss it. This is the one that you wanna be. And he certainly does that here. He compares these two drastically different things. And it may be easy, for anybody to say clearly we would wanna be on this side and not this selfish, prideful person over here. But in case we, we didn't get there, he closes with, this is the one that i- is the, is the right way. And I think that's to Jesus' point of he's doing this and teaching this way, not to confuse or to confound or, or to make it more difficult. He is doing it to make it more accessible. He, he's doing it to make it more understandable. And he'll go so far as to even as he does here at the end and say, in case you really weren't fo - tracking me along the way, this right here i- is where, is where you need to be. And I, I love how he sets this up for us because the compare and contrast game is so strong. There, there are only two individuals and we're told very little about them and yet you can almost picture them in your head as this story unfolds. There is the Pharisee, who of course would have been one of the Jewish leaders at the time, somebody that would have been well respected in the community likely fairly well off financially someone who had given themselves to the knowledge and understanding of the law. They, they were held on a pedestal by society. So that's the one person. And then the other one is a tax collector despised by the Jewish people, an outcast. Nobody liked the tax collectors. And so here, here's the two people. Okay, we're already off to a good start because we can picture them in our heads as they're walking into the temple. A- and what Jesus begins to do is he begins to paint this picture of someone who trusts in themselves, trusts in their law keeping, trusts in their ability to present themselves as someone who is righteous. And then on the other hand, you see someone who is so humble that they don't even want to come near the temple itself. Someone who sees themselves as lowly, someone who recognizes themselves as a sinner. A- and so the, the contrast between these two individuals couldn't be greater. A- and Jesus immediately, as you said, as he draws the story to a close is like the, the humility of this tax collector, that's what I'm looking for. Anyone who would think that you can justify yourself, anyone that would think that you can keep the law well enough to impress God, that's not, that's not somebody to be admired. That's not somebody to look up to. That certainly isn't someone that you wanna be. You wanna be someone who understands your place before God and your need for his grace and his mercy. I, I, we say that out loud. It's like that's the, one of the most simple things you could ever possibly have Jesus say. And yet there is such profundity to it because he is, is sharing with us a, a challenge that all of us face because we, we all have to come face to face with the fact that I can't do this on my own. I'm never going to impress God and shame on me for ever trying. I, I need to be a humble person before him. A- and that is such a profound truth, but he shares it in such a simple way. You, you walk away from reading this story just amazed at, at how Jesus goes about bringing a teaching like this to us. Yeah, the contrast in a lot of ways i- is humility versus selfishness. E- even though he doesn't use the word, it, it's Jesus calling out hypocrisy again. Yeah. And, and he, he does that all throughout the gospels and specifically at the Pharisees. You were right in describing these two men and making mention of the Pharisees and religiously, the people were placing them upon a pedestal and it was easy to do that because they place themselves on a pedestal. Yeah. And, and, and that's exactly what's happening here. And, and even though the word hypocrisy isn't given or, Jesus isn't, calling them out as a hypocrite as he is, apt to do, it's exactly what's happening right here. And so it, it's not just a contrast between humility and reverence against selfishness, but also against hypocrisy. And you, there's so many different contrasts, not just in their lot and life from the Pharisee to the tax collector, religiously speaking, for the Jews perspective, the very highest to the very lowest, but it, it is in how they prayed. It, it is even the posture. That's one thing that I was thinking about even as I read this earlier today. Even there's a comparison in their posture. The Pharisee comes in, he's standing. He, he's standing and praying and pointing out to other people and yet the tax collector, he's on the ground, not even lifting his eyes. And so you have this incredibly visual contrast, even between the two. And again, that points humility, reverence, humility, reverence, humility, reverence over and over and over again. And, and that is ultimately the point that Jesus is gonna work his way to. And, when you think about that humility and reverence, all of that points to a recognition of need. And I really think, if, if we were to back up we, we are gonna talk about, I think we are gonna talk about one other parable in Luke chapter 18 this month, but i- if you back up and you look at chapter 18 as a whole, it almost seems as if Luke thematically has grouped some things together to drive home the importance of understanding our reliance upon God and our recognition of need for him. And, and the reason that's so important is because there are, were, and certainly in this day and age, there were so many that were still so connected and tied to the old law that they had perverted much of what God had said in the old law and converted it into a law of check boxes and a law of self-righteousness, that if I can do this good enough, and if I can keep enough of the laws, then God will be impressed with me and he will grant me salvation. And Jesus came into the world and said, "You've got this all wrong. You've got it all wrong. If, if the old law had taught you anything, it should have taught you that there isn't enough law keeping in this world that can possibly save you. What you need is to humble yourself before God and accept the grace and the mercy that he's bringing into this world. That's what God wants from you. That's what God needs you to understand." And, and that, that is just as true for us today as it was back then. Certainly the Pharisees were struggling with that concept back then, but, but we still struggle with that today. I, I want to look into the Bible and I want to see it as a rule book for me to keep, and I want to do a good job of keeping the rules. I can do as good a job as I possibly can at keeping the rules and that will never impress God enough to let him welcome me into heaven without his grace and his mercy being poured out upon me. And when I recognize my need for that, it should humble me the way that this tax collector was humbled. And, and humility ultimately becomes the key. It, it is ultimately the key to, to everything and to every piece of our relationship. And it's interesting how Jesus is able to get to it from this angle, but ultimately end at the same place. It ult - it comes down to humility. And you're right. It, we, sometimes we, we get confused by thinking that that checkboxy kind of mentality was a New Testament Jewish problem because it's talked about so much through not just the gospels, but really in the epistles. But it's a great temptation for us today to operate through life by thinking listen, I'm a good person. I go to church. I read my Bible. I pray. Check, check, check, check, check. And now I'm in a, I deserve scenario. That's where the Pharisee lives, right? That's exactly where he lives. And when we do that, we lose sight of humility, dependence, we lose sight of reverence. We lose sight of those things. And, and this tax collector, if there's not a more perfect prayer for everybody is in verse 13. He beat his breasts and says, God, be merciful to me a sinner. That's it. I don't know h- how many words that is. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven words. It's the most perfect of prayers, right? Seven words and, and really a prayer that each and every one of us can utter. Absolutely. Let's end in Matthew chapter 13. I though as we begin a month studying the parables, it might be a good place to end the first episode by listening to Jesus explain why he teaches in parables, because he was asked that very question in Matthew chapter 13 in verse 10. His disciples came to him and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And beginning in verse 11, he answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast, whatever platform you're listening, rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week and we'll talk again next week.