Thursday, 11 April Luke 18:9-34
Written by Dr Graham Leo. ©2019.
Luke again pairs two stories in this reading. One is a parable (the Pharisee and the tax-collector) and the other is an actual event, the story of a rich ruler. Both stories deal with the question of people ‘who were confident in their own righteousness’ (v9). Let’s deal with the second, first (vv18-30).
This is one of those stories that many people find deeply troubling. They wonder if Jesus is saying that we all have to give our money away if we want to gain eternal life. Well, let’s think. Jesus hasn't said this to any other rich people he has met, so simple logic suggests that this is not the best interpretation of the passage.
So if this isn't what Jesus is saying, we need to look behind the words to find out what is happening here. We know Luke didn't make a mistake recording it.
This rich ruler claimed to have followed all the commandments. He was quite sure about it. ‘All these I have kept since my youth,’ he said. But think for a moment! We read a few days ago in the parable about the rich farmer about how the Old Testament law included lots of instructions to help the poor, to use your wealth for the good of others.
It is likely (we can't be certain, so we won't be dogmatic about this) that Jesus put his finger on this man’s personal blind spot. Perhaps he had not followed the law as well as he had said he did. Jesus’ instruction is quite clear: if he gives his money to the poor he will have treasure in heaven.
Putting that another way: if he reassesses his priorities so that the thing that he values most is the welfare of the poor, then he will have treasure in heaven. The selling of his goods is not actually the key. Being poor is not the key. The critical thing for this man is to change his own values. It is not necessary for all rich people to give away their wealth.
Money is just a system of counting what we regard as valuable. This man does not value the poor, while the God whom he claims to serve does do so. God counts them by name. His values are not aligned with his God’s. What Jesus desires for him is a changed heart.
The first story, the parable, is even more fascinating. Two men go to the temple to pray. From this snippet we can assume – as Jesus’ hearers would, being familiar with the customs – that they are going up to the temple at the hour of evening prayer, which coincides with the hour of the offering of the evening sacrifice.
The two men are standing praying in the temple. The Pharisee ‘prayed about himself’ (v11) – that sort of prayer is always a danger. His arrogance and self-righteousness is clear. Part of his praying about himself, is comparing himself with the tax-collector.
I’ve had to correct myself about this. It struck me years ago, that in my prayers sometimes, I would be rehearsing some of my worries and concerns before God, and I would find myself mentioning the names of other Christians whom I believed to have mistreated me. I felt a strong check in my spirit, and a scripture came to mind from Revelation: ‘For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.’ (Rev. 12:10)
I suddenly realised with deep shame that I was doing what Satan was renowned for – accusing the people of God to God. The name Satan means Accuser. Immediately I determined that I would never do that again. I would just assume that anything God needs to know about other Christians, he already knows. I don't need to tell him. It’s worth remembering when you are with other people, not only in prayer, but in general conversation. Let Satan do his own dirty work.
But that was a digression… The tax-collector was praying a very particular prayer, and few of our Bible translations give it to us clearly. ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner.’ A more word-for-word translation would be, ‘O God, let the sacrifice be for me, the sinner.’
The word for the sacrifice is hilastheti. It means ‘propitiation’, meaning to offer a sacrifice on behalf of someone else. This is a word found only four times in the New Testament.
In the 4th chapter of his first letter, John uses this word: In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us, and sent his son as a propitiation for our sins.
In the book of Hebrews, we read in 2:17 that Jesus became a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement or propitiation (a hilaschomai) for the sins of the people.
Again in Romans 3:25, we read that God himself made Jesus a propitiation, an atoning sacrifice, a hilasterion, through the blood shed on the cross.
In the Old Testament, we see this same word used many times. But one of its first and most important uses is most beautiful. When God gave instructions to Moses to construct the ark of the covenant, he told him to place a cover on the top, made of gold. On the top of the cover, he was to craft two angels from pure gold. Their wings would stretch out to each other, almost meeting at the top of the cover of the ark.
This cover was given a name: the hilasterion: the propitiatory cover. It is often translated as the mercy-seat. It was to this cover, this hilasterion, that the high priest would come, just once a year, to pour the blood of the atoning sacrifice for the sins of Israel on the mercy-seat. In Hebrew the word is kippur, and that one day is the Feast of Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement. The Day of Hilasterion, the Day of Propitiation.
Jesus tells this story of the tax-collector standing and praying at the time of the evening sacrifice. No doubt he could smell the roasting flesh of the sacrifice wafting into the court where he was praying. The smell brought to his mind his need of a sacrifice to atone for his sins, so he prayed: Let this propitiation be for me.
Two men confident in their own righteousness, who walked away from salvation. One man, who bowed his head, confessed his sin in meek humility, and claimed the sacrifice which was pointing toward the death of Jesus on the cross just a few weeks ahead. On Good Friday, don't neglect to pray: Let this propitiation be for me.
Prayer: O my Father, every time I see the bread broken and the wine poured, remind me, please, to say: Let the propitiation be for me. As I place the bread on my tongue, and lift the cup to my lips, remind me, please, to say: Let the propitiation be for me. Amen.
