The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 18:9-14, “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed 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 stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’

13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’

14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

It’s not fully clear in my mind, as it occurred many years ago. I had concluded a sermon and had left the pulpit when I was immediately confronted and accused of having publicly mentioned a situation that, in the complainant’s mind, had fully disclosed to the audience something that had occurred to her many years ago. From my standpoint, the person’s objection was completely absurd! I had not a scintilla of information concerning my objector’s life or situation. In fact, it was my first (and thankfully only) time she and I had ever met! All this is to say that very strange things sometimes occur in churches.

In our passage above, two men, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector, commendably entered a temple to pray. That appears to be all that either of them had in mind. Certainly, both should be commended for their presence in the LORD’s House, as well as for the purpose of praying. Yet, the “good” stops there.

The Pharisee clearly and intentionally attacked the tax collector, calling him a “swindler,” someone thoroughly “unjust,” and an “adulterer.” Allowing for the moment that the Pharisee’s accusations were even possibly true, they were hardly appropriate for an act of prayer. It should alert us to be careful regarding what we say to the LORD in prayer. At the same time, the tax collector, virtually all of whom were known to be, at the least, “swindlers” and “unjust,” simply prayed humbly “in acknowledgment of his sin, begging that the LORD “be merciful” to him. What a schoolhouse lesson on prayer! May the LORD help us all to remember.

Heartily in Christ,

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

“We will never know that Christ is all we need, until He becomes all that we have.” –Corrie ten Boom