Be Mercy-Seated Towards Me: The Parable of the Pharisees and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)
Food for Thought:
One common misunderstanding of this very familiar parable is that Jesus is primarily talking about prayer. After all, Jesus simply describes two men and their prayers! Yet, it is interesting to notice what Jesus does not say after the Tax Collector’s prayer. Jesus does not say, “I tell you the truth, this man went home, rather than the other, with his prayer answered.”
Rather, Jesus says, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.” (vs. 14a). This is a parable of salvation. Luke gives you the clue right off the bat: Jesus told the parable because some “trusted in themselves that they were righteous” (vs. 9). The language of justification and righteousness means that Jesus’ parable is playing ball in the proverbial ballfield of Salvation Park.
What does Jesus want to say about salvation?
The parable hinges on highlighting an enormous contrast. In the first century religious world, it would be hard for a Jewish person to imagine a bigger contrast religiously than between a Pharisee and a Tax Collector. A Pharisee was the first century religious equivalent of Superman – able to leap religious buildings in a single bound. Nobody would have doubted the Pharisee’s words. Everyone would have nodded their heads in agreement: “Of course, he fasts twice a week. Of course, he gives the tithe. Of course, he’s not like all other men and the rest of us sinners. He’s God’s favorite. Just look at his life!”
And yet, the contrast is a big part of the entire point of the parable: the nature of God’s salvation is that everyone is included. Even the Tax Collector. Even the person (seemingly) furthest from the Kingdom of God is graciously invited in. That’s the nature of salvation that Jesus brings, and that’s incredibly good news to everyone who can’t possibly trust in their own righteousness or have given up (a long time ago) ever trying to be a Religious Superhero because they can point to all kinds of failures and flaws. Even the Tax Collector can go home justified. That’s gloriously good news for broken sinners. Even the Tax Collector.
The Tax Collector prays simply. In fact, his prayer is one of the shortest prayers in the entire Bible. The entire prayer is a mere 6 words in the Greek, and 7 words in most English translations: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Simple yet Profound. The Tax Collector stands in a long-line of biblical characters who recognize two great truths: the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.
Isaiah responds to the vision of God’s holiness thus: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)
Job responds to a vision of Yahweh by uttering “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).
Simon Peter falls at Jesus’ feet: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)
John’s heavenly vision makes him tremble: “I fell at his feet as though dead.” (Rev. 1:17).
So too the Tax Collector. James Montgomery Boice notices that “the Pharisees began his prayer with ‘God’. But he was not praying to God because he did not see himself as a sinner.” You can never really pray without knowing yourself to be a sinner. And that’s what Jesus wanted to say about salvation, too. You can never be saved until you recognize some really bad news: I am a sinner in need of a Savior.
Thus, the beginning and end of the Tax Collector’s prayer is instructive: the Tax Collector recognizes who he is (“a sinner”) and he recognizes who God is (“standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven”).
Yet the meat of his prayer is equally profound and magnificent: “be merciful to me”. The word translated “be merciful” is the Greek word hilastheti which is the verb form of “mercy seat” on the ark of the covenant in the Jewish temple (hilsterion) which occurs only in two places in the entire New Testament:
Romans 3:25: whom God put forward as a propitiation (hilsterion) by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (1 John 2:2, 4:10 use a closely related word.)
Hebrews 9:5: Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat (hilsterion). Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
Modern English versions of the Bible would never translate the metaphor so literally because it would butcher the English language, but the tax collector’s prayer could awkwardly be translated, “be mercy-seated towards me” or “treat me as one who comes on the basis of the blood shed on the mercy seat as an offering for my sins”.[1] James Boice explains the significance:
“The ark of the covenant was a wooden box about a yard long, covered with gold, and containing the stone tablets of the law of Moses. The lid of that box was the mercy seat, constructed of pure gold and having on each end of it angels whose outstretched wings went backward and upward, almost meeting over the center of the mercy seat. Between those outstretched wings God was imagined to dwell symbolically. As it stands, the ark is a picture of judgment intended to produce dread in the worshipper through a knowledge of his or her sin. For what does God see as He looks down from between the wings of the angels? He sees the law of Moses that we have broken. He sees that he must act toward us as Judge.
But here is where the mercy seat comes in, and here is why it is called the mercy seat. Upon that covering of the ark, once a year on the Day of Atonement the high priest sprinkled blood from an animal that had been killed moments before in the courtyard of the temple. That animal was a substitute. It was an innocent victim dying in the place of the sinful people who deserved to die. Now, when God looks down from between the outstretched wings of the angels, He sees, not the law of Moses that we have broken, but the blood of the innocent victim. He sees that punishment has been meted out. Now His loves goes out in mercy to save the one who comes to Him through faith in that sacrifice.
…Not only did [the tax collector’s prayer] embody his faith in the way of salvation by sacrifice, it actually expressed the idea by its form.”
The tax collector understood that between “God” and “me, a sinner” comes the mercy seat! Salvation always rests on God’s grace to “be mercy-seated” towards sinners. Only the mercy seat of God can atone for my sin. The apostle Paul tells you that God put forward Christ as your mercy seat which alone atones for your sins by his blood (Rom. 3:25).
What a great parable, and what an even better salvation!
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[1] Shout out to James Mongomery Boice.