Jesus' parables were stacked full of references which would have appealed to his audiences. Often he was speaking to a real mixture of educated Pharisees alongside far less literate ordinary people. His storytelling and use of parables and vivid imagery managed to get messages across to whoever was listening – whether they paid heed to him or not.
In particular, His ability to boil down large concepts from the Hebrew Bible into vibrant and punchy parables is striking. So much so, that even though a lot of the references which appealed to a first century, mostly agrarian, audience aren't obvious to us today, his teaching remains clear, concise and applicable.
One of the best examples of this is the Parable of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.'
"But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
"I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."
This little parable shows Jesus at His most confrontational. He was a Rabbi, a religious teacher. He would have been expected to uphold not only the religious teaching of His culture but also the socio-political position of the Pharisees. Not a bit of it, though. The whole parable is designed to flip those cultural norms upside down.
Tax collectors were among the most hated members of the society. Not only were they collaborators with the brutal Roman occupiers, but they were sometimes swindlers and cheats as well (think of Zaccheus). Pharisees were at the opposite end of the scale – they thought of themselves as righteous, upstanding and moral. They were ready to show this to the world – not necessarily in a self-aggrandising way (although surely this was part of the reasoning – being seen to be good). The Pharisees wanted to be seen to be doing the right thing, and expected their followers would attempt to emulate them.
We can see how Jesus' story puts him on a collision course with the received wisdom of his society. In Roman and Greek society, respect was given to the strong, those who showed public devotion, those who were able to impose their will on others. Jesus suggests that the Pharisees have fallen into this trap. He implies that the Pharisee in the story was one of those who "exalt themselves".
Jesus doesn't just stop at a radical critique of the Pharisee, though. He actually goes much further by placing the tax collector in a place of grace.
This story contains the heart of the gospel – outward actions can't bring you closer to God. Instead, throwing ourselves on the mercy of God is the only thing which will bring us into relationship with Him.
This would have been shocking to many contemporary ears. Jesus' audience would have been astonished to hear Him proclaim that the Pharisee – who had been held up as a paragon of virtue, was in fact to be pitied. Meanwhile, the tax collector – who would have been despised and reviled, was in fact to be emulated.
Even if this story doesn't apply in the same way any more, the scandalous nature of grace has lost none of its power. Instead of a tax collector, think about one of the other type of hated people in our society: a refugee, for example. If that person comes to God and allows God to show mercy, then that person is in relationship with God. By contrast, the equivalent of a Pharisee: a politician, businessperson or even a church leader who relies on their own merit to please God will be in for a rude awakening. The freshness and radical nature of Jesus' teaching shouldn't take us by surprise – but for all of us, in all ages, it still has the power to do so.
