Get Real November 23 Devotional
November 23, 2024
Luke 18:9-14| 9 He also told this parable to some who
trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The
Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Why did Jesus do this extraordinary thing—befriending Zacchaeus and risking the subsequent shame and derision?
One reason was His consistent strategy of undermining the standard division of people into the righteous and unrighteous. Some sins are publically evident, obvious, and shameful. Zacchaeus was indeed a terrible man. But other sins, equally awful, come from the pride that dismisses others as unworthy and beneath contempt. Zacchaeus was lost in greed but those who despised him were also lost in the certainty of their own superiority. Jesus did not ignore Zacchaeus’ waywardness, He helped him reform and change, but neither did He write him off as beyond the pale.
Our culture also likes easy dichotomies which assign virtue to one class, group, or race and vice to another. Substitute
oppressor and oppressed for sinner and righteous one and you have the same dynamic.
Why did Jesus tell the story of the Pharisee and the sinner?
