Pharisee and Publican

Kenneth Bailey helpfully emphasizes that Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the publican takes place in the temple, and he suggests convincingly that it is set during a public worship service. The fact that both men go up to the temple at the same time, and the fact that they are both “standing off” (presumably from others) indicates that this is one of the daily sacrifices. Luke 1 indicates already that there was prayer outside the temple while the priests ministered within, and other Jewish sources indicate the same. Likewise, the publican’s prayer is “God, be propitious” or “God make atonement on my behalf,” apparently referring to the “propitiating sacrifice” done at the temple. The publican is justified because his faith and humility and plea for mercy “appropriate” the benefits of a sacrifice; the Pharisee does not appropriate the benefits of the sacrifice, and thus is not justified.

This significantly changes and deepens the force of the parable. It is indeed a parable about humiliation and exaltation (v 14), and it is a slam against the pride and separatism of the Pharisees. (Interestingly, in the light of the New Perspective Debate, and of Dunn in particular, Luke makes it clear that nationalistic pride, or sectarian pride, is intimately connected with confidence in one’s own law-keeping. If Paul is addressing the former, therefore, he must also in some fashion be addressing the latter.) But the issue is even more about the abuse of the temple and its rites. This makes sense contextually: Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, where He will disrupt the temple activities and call the temple a “den of thieves.” On the way, he tells this parable about a Pharisee who thinks he’s righteous and who uses the temple as a way to broadcast his superiority to fellow Jews. Throughout Luke, we have been told that the Pharisees are NOT righteous, and that makes this Pharisee’s boast all the more galling. Boasting confidence in one’s self and contempt and abuse of the poor ?Ethese are precisely the activities that led to the destruction of Solomon’s temple, and they are going to bring an end to Herod’s as well.