The Pharisee, as he prayed, was extremely confident. And it is not
impossible that as he prayed he stood where he could be seen by all. He was
self-sufficient to his own mind. He lacked nothing. In his own eyes, he was a
true patriot, and he was respected by all in the community. He saw in himself a
virtuous man, according to all the known rules of Phariseeism. There was no
need for him to seek, or ask, or knock. In his own eyes, he had everything a
man was in need of. And in addition to all this, he “prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes
of all I possess.” “We can hear the ‘I, I, I,’ go thumping all the way
through his address like a flat wheel on a trolley car.’’ Thus, he informs
those that are interested, that he has fulfilled all the requirements, no matter
which way he is judged. But his virtue was of the negative kind. He had failed
to be active in doing good. His deeds were those of an actor, “‘to be seen of
men.”
Prayer comes only from the “‘humble and contrite heart.” The sinner
did not have to overcome any snobbishness or ideas of superiority, either in
wealth, occupation, position, or religion. He was humble. He realized his great
need to gain those qualities of character that Jesus had called “‘blessed’’—the
“‘pure in heart,” “poor in spirit,’ and “they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness.’’ ‘‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’’ he said.
“Two men went up to pray? Oh, rather say,
One went to brag, the other went to pray.”
Jesus saw in the sinner one with good possibilities, one who was
anxious for help. In the Pharisee, he saw a religion of his day which was
practised in a self-satisfied, smug life; a life that had no desire to improve.
He saw a man who was unneighborly, one who separated himself from the poor,
unfortunate people, and thus separated himself from God.
The tumult and the shouting dies,
The captains and the kings depart;
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,--
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord, God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget,--lest we forget.
--Kipling (Obert C. Taner, The New Testament Speaks [Salt Lake City:
The Deseret News Press, 1946], 396-97)
