The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Abstract

In the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Jesus trades in the language of hyperbole: The Pharisee and the tax collector are both caricatures of a particular way of responding to God. In itself each of these ways is not without its legitimacy. Nevertheless, the reason the Pharisee incurs God's disapproval in Jesus9 parable has to do with his misuse of religious tradition: Keeping the tradition becomes the means by which he exalts himself over others. Still, the tax collector, too, can stand as a warning: Lamenting one's sins, if it does not lead to commensurate action, merely becomes an exercise in cheap grace.