Luke 18:10 Commentary and Bible Study

Two men go into the temple to pray, and the parable will highlight the enormous contrast between them. Christ has selected characters in this parable who could not be more different. He has also selected them because in popular opinion there was already strong prejudice in favour of the one and against the other. Although some of his most devastating observations were directed against the Pharisees, the common people looked up to them as religious experts, and felt obliged to accept their authority over them. This parable is then about the religious variety of self-righteous person. On the other hand there was intense resentment against the publicans or tax-collectors, who were regarded as having betrayed their own people for the sake of financial benefits, and had sold out to the Roman overlords on whose behalf they collected taxes, while pocketing some of the proceeds themselves.Now, there is a publican in this same place of worship. What's the significance of that? Well, these people were generally outcasts. They were people who had been consumed by greed. They had, generally speaking, sold their interests to the occupying Roman forces and interests, government, and they worked against their own countrymen. Wouldn't you think that this Pharisee would be amazed to see a publican coming into the temple? They normally kept clear. Wouldn't you think that seeing this publican, he would say, what brings him in here? He must have had some sort of a change of heart. You would think that the Pharisee would consider this man: his heart must be being melted. He has come to worship his God. We haven't seen him here for months, for years. I must speak to him. I must be concerned about him. Perhaps he has had some terrible tragedy or trouble in his life. You would expect that the Pharisee would begin to feel some sort of pastoral compassion. But oh, no. All he sees is someone who he can compare himself with. He was at the centre of his world; he was all that mattered.