The prayers of a jerk.

Last week I wrote about Jesus’s Pharisee and Taxman Story, in which he compared the prayers of two guys in temple—a self-righteous Pharisee, and a taxman begging for mercy. The taxman, said Jesus, went home righteous. Lk 18.14

The Pharisee, on the other hand… well, it really depends on how you translate the Greek preposition παρ’/par’. Properly, it’s “besides,” but Christian tradition has been to interpret it as “against, contrary to,” and claim the Pharisee was not righteous.

Why’s this? Well, his works. His prayer makes him sound like a real jerk. Jerks aren’t righteous, are they?

Luke 18.11-12 NASB

11“The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ ”

“I don’t swindle. I don’t connive. I don’t cheat. I’m not like this collaborator with our Roman oppressors. I voluntarily give up food so I can concentrate on you. I give away a tenth of absolutely everything.” What a braggart.

Thing is, once you think about it, plenty of devout God-followers oughta be able to say the very same thing, and honestly mean it. Hopefully not with this Pharisee’s attitude, but still, as far as good works are concerned, dude was doing ’em.

The part which makes us unsympathetic to the Pharisee’s prayer is of course the very first part of it. “God, I’m so happy you didn’t make me one of the lowlifes who don’t do as I do. Thank you that I was born into this race, and for making me one of the good ones.” Yep, it’s his crappy, fruitless Pharisee-supremacist attitude. How dare he. (And hopefully our offense isn’t because we figure only we are permitted to think that way, as Christian supremacists will.)

Still, does the Pharisee’s bad attitude undo his righteousness? What does makes us righteous or unrighteous? What justifies us before God?

Hopefully we’ve not forgotten basic Christian doctrine: It’s faith. We don’t merit justification and salvation by fasting and tithing. Neither do we unearn it by disparaging others in our petty, selfish prayers. When we believe and trust God, he accounts it to us as righteousness, same as he did with Abraham. Ge 15.6, Ro 4.3 Does the Pharisee in Jesus’s story not trust God? Clearly he does—and he’s totally thanking God for making him the way he is. And yes, he’s a great big jerk about it. But he does believe God. Like it or not, this means he’s not unrighteous, no matter how your favorite bible translates Luke 18.14.

Okay, maybe he’s less righteous, as William Tyndale put it:

Luke 18.14 Tyndale

14AI tell you: this ma departed hoe to his housse iustified moore then the other.

But again: If our righteousness comes from faith not works, it bad theology to say this Pharisee isn’t righteous. Jesus does rebuke his hypothetical Pharisee for being a dick, but he never does declare him outside of God’s kingdom. For he’s not.

This oughta be some comfort to those Christians who slip up, mirror this Pharisee’s attitude, and start thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. And even start praying that way too. We shouldn’t do that; we should certainly know better; the Christian walk should reflect humility not pride. Remember no matter how many good deeds we do, it never wholly cancels out our sins; we don’t deserve salvation. But God is gracious, so we have his salvation anyway. So be gracious as well. Be better than this Pharisee.

Pride’s gonna get in this guy’s way.

The real problem with a jerk’s prayers isn’t just the graceless attitude towards others. Yeah, that’s a problem too; it reveals how very little of the Spirit’s fruit is actually growing in this person. If you’re not paying attention to the Spirit’s correction and discipline, you’re gonna suck at following Jesus. You’re gonna be underprepared for heaven. You’re gonna be the lowest in God’s kingdom.

And your prayer life is gonna suck. Because God has no interest in granting the requests of self-satisfied people. He opposes the proud, remember? Jm 4.6, 1Pe 5.5 If such a person has requests to make of God, do you really think God’s gonna be receptive to their attitude? To their unrepentant arrogance? To their unwillingness to follow his Spirit? Prayer’s meant to be a two-way conversation, and they’re not listening.

So yeah, pride tanks our prayer life. This Pharisee who goes to temple and brags to God: He’s gonna keep on bragging to God, because he’s not listening to the Spirit when he responds, “Son, please. You’re not that way. Lookit the taxman. He’s clearly repenting. When’s the last time you ever admitted you were wrong?”

Christian jerks might trust God aplenty, which may be enough to get them into his kingdom, but again: They’re not gonna know their Father’s heart and will. They’re not gonna pray as he wants. They’re not gonna care about the people he cares about. They’re not gonna love the people he loves. They’re gonna suck at following him. They’re gonna suck at good deeds. They’re gonna suck, period. They’re gonna be just the worst Christians, by default.

Still Christian. But yeesh.