Skip to main content

PARABLE: Pharisee and the Tax Collector

 {PARABLE} the Pharisee and the Tax Collector_ 

Luke 18:9-14 

 
Prayer is a kind of litmus test of our relationship with God. Our prayers reveal who and what is most important to us. They expose our inner-most feelings about ourselves and about God. 

 

[Group discussion starter] Think of times when you have been tempted to see yourself as superior to someone else. What dangers do you see in giving in to this temptation? 

 

In this parable we overhear the prayers of two men. Jesus told this story to people “who looked down on everyone else.” It is a parable which speaks against spiritual pride and judgmentalism... 

 
[Read Luke 18:9-14] 

 
How would you retell the story of the two men, using modern characters? 

 
Put yourself in the Pharisee’s place. What would this experience of seeing yourself as superior feel like? 

 
The Pharisee addresses God, but to what extent does God occupy his attention? 
Explain. 

 
What do verses 11-12 reveal about how the Pharisee sees himself? 

What does this reveal about his attitude toward God? 

 

 
How often does the Pharisee compare himself with others (verse 11)? 

 

 
How does it affect you when you compare yourself with those you look down on? 

 
Put yourself in the Tax Collector’s place. What do you imagine he is thinking and feeling? 

 

 
[Activity] How does the way the Tax Collector views himself (verse 13) contrast with how the Pharisee views himself? 

 

 

 

 
Notice the positions, postures and gestures of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. What conclusions can we draw from these contrasts in their body language? 

 

 
In the first century, Pharisees were viewed with great respect, while Tax Collectors were despised as traitors. Why then was the Tax Collector justified rather than the Pharisee (verse 14)? 

 

 
In what ways are we tempted to feel spiritually superior to others today? 

 

 
What, in your experience, is the relationship between awareness of our need for God’s mercy and genuine humility? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #3

  {SEVEN LETTERS}    The Attractiveness of Suffering_   Revelation 2:8-11     In the year AD 177 persecution broke out against the Christians living in what is today the French city of Lyon. Christianity had raised the suspicions and hatred of the Roman  bureaucrats who governed the city. The vicious persecution that raged, touched Christians at every level of society. After the persecuti on subsided, church father Irenaeus, arranged for a letter to be written to Christians in other parts of the Roman Empire describing the faithfulness of the  martyrs...   We  can’t  even begin to put into words, much less describe in detail, the  magnitude  of the persecution here: how the pagans raged so terribly against the saints, and how the ble ssed martyrs endured so patiently... To begin with, they nobly endured all the abuse the whole mob collectively piled on: screaming  at them, punching them, dragging them through the stre...
Post a Comment
Read more

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #1

  The Lord Who Speaks_   Revelation 1:9-20   We  don’t  tend to get many letters these days. We get emails, text messages,  WhatsApp  and other electronic messages, but rarely  a handwritten, pen-and-paper letter.    I tend to save any good ones I get... notes from when Leah was little. Letters that encourage or bless me.   I’ll keep them in my  bedside  drawer or  tucked  into books on our shelves. Then I get to read them again and feel loved and blessed by their words. ..     [Discussion starter]    Tell the group about a significant letter you have received and why it meant so much to you.     Revelation 2-3 records seven letters written by Jesus to seven churches.   It must have been a thrill for an early church congregation to receive a letter from the apostles Paul, Peter, or James... but here were letters from Jesus himself . And we all get to read everyone else’s ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

David #12

  [DAVID] Generous giving_   1 Chronicles 29     Giving has become a sore spot for many Christians. Every day we are bombarded with appeals for money – from TV and radio evangelists, from missionaries, from parachurch organisations , from charities and from our own churches. Sometim es we might feel like shouting, “Enough is enough!” How can we adopt godly attitudes toward giving so that we don’t live with a closed fist but an open hand and a generous heart?     [Group discussion starter] How do you tend to respond when people ask you for money? Explain.     David had a refreshing attitude toward giving. In this chapter he illustrates what it means to give joyously and generously to the Lord...     [Read 1 Chronicles 29]     What does this chapter reveal about David’s perspective on giving?       In verses 1-5, how does David provide an excellent example of what it means to give generously to God?    ...
Post a Comment
Read more