The Pharisee and the Publican

The Pharisee and the Publican BY JUDGE HENRY H. ROLAPP The most unique features of the parables of Christ are their finished brevity, and their fitting application to ever present conditions. Nowhere else in literature do so few words at once tell an easily remembered story, and at the same time so lastingly impress an always needed moral. No other stories so aptly reveal the constant sameness of human situations among all generations and in all climes. No other narrative so readily changes history of past events into reflections upon existing incidents. We read of yesterday, but think of today. At each recital the oriental settings and the local actors of the parables are quickly obscured by an intuitive suggestion to have them substituted with men and affairs of our own. The circumstances and persons whom the Master mentions affect us but slightly, but we meditate much upon their striking resemblance to our own surroundings, and ponder earnestly whether they would suggest the same comments. Existing defects, heretofore indulgently accepted, suddenly appear in amuch more serious aspect; and attainments, formerly but lightly regarded, now seem of infinitely greater importance. Our view point is changed, and ill considered notions of right and wrong are modified. The judgment of mere popular approval is discarded, and mankind divided into two new classes: one embracing those the Master would love, and the other those he would criticize. The simple story of ages ago has done its work. Recorded truth is transmuted into active life. The seed of the past has become the bloom of the present. A most impressive illustration of this power of parable truth is found in the story of the Pharisee and the Publican. It is recorded that upon a certain occasion, the Master met some individuals who had convinced themselves of their own superior piety, and who, by reason of this imaginary sanctity, had become blinded to the. possible merits of other people. They regarded their neighbors as the embodiments of sin and unworthiness, and themselves as exclusively entitled to heavenly favor. Such men- always act that way. They create for themselves a standard of morality, which their own inclinations and environ-

312 IMPROVEMENT ERA ments make easy of attainment, and then demand that the rest of mankind must conform thereto, or perish under Divine disapproval. But not satisfied with having made a law for the conduct of others, they also invest themselves with authority to promptly inflict the threatened punishment in its human form. If anybody fails to adopt their self-created standards of holiness, they forestall the expected celestial disfavor by visiting the offender with their personal censure and contempt. In this attitude, common to all races and all ages, Christ recognized an opportunity to teach an everlasting moral lesson, and so related this simple little story Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a Publican. Now, a Pharisee was a type of person whom the Savior, upon another occasion, described as one who paid tithes on mint and herbs, and observed the small, outward virtues of life, but who failed to distinguish a human failing from . a wilful sin, and wholly overlooked the love of God. A Publican, upon the other hand, was a personality who did not always comply strictly with Jewish requirements, and whose environments gave opportunities for doing wrong. These facts afforded his selfrighteous neighbors an excuse for emphasizing and contrasting their own merits, and furnished a desired pretext for condemning the Savior because of his association with social outcasts.

Such types were not peculiar to the Savior's age. They are as numerous today as they were in ancient times ; nor has society changed its attitude towards them. Although the world has produced innumerable illustrations of the frequency with which insincerity, and sometimes immorality, is associated with sanctimonious appearances, yet the exhibition of a few visible merits still proves the most successful cloak for inward depravity. Although experience has amply demonstrated that petty human failings are not usually incompatible with a steadfast faith and a loyal heart, yet the world still criticizes a wilful liar less than it does an occasional transgressor of temperance. It continues to reward the pretender with reverend greetings in the market places ;

and persists in preventing the small, but open, offender from being valued for even the virtues he does possess. The thoughtless masses want no inquiry into causes or motives. They judge from the surface and condemn from appearances. It was doubtless for the purpose of directing attention to pre-

THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN 313 from cisely this error, that Jesus chose to remove these prototypes the arena of human prejudice. His story places them in the Temple, engaged in personal supplication before the Throne of Grace. That situation presented the best means for disclosing their real natures. Before an all-knowing Father there could be no advantage in concealment; and before an admittedly righteous Judge, each character would naturally present his own strongest appeal for divine consideration. And so, each is permitted to state his own case.

Says the Pharisee: "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortionate, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. 1 fast twice in the week, and give tithes on all I possess." How characteristic that prayer is of the pharisaical nature, which the Master desired to portray. Although expressed in form of gratitude, it is merely the avowal of a superior claim to Divine favor, based upon a few minor virtues effected, and a few extreme sins avoided. That is the peculiar distinguishing exhibition of self-righteousness. It never acknowledges greater excellence in others, but habitually contrasts itself with extreme wickedness, and then glories at its. own pre-eminence in such comparison. The self-righteous recognizes only a single division of mankind. One part is himself, and the other is composed of those mortals who, in a vanishing degree, differ from his own selected virtues. He is, therefore, ever thankful not to be like other men, because they are simply useful as pointed illustrations of his own arrogated sanctity. And then, again, how repeatedly self-glorification boasts its petty virtues. Doubtless every neighbor of the Pharisee could have testified to his showy compliance with trivial religious requirements. So publicly had he paid his tithes, and so frequently had he talked about his fastings, that none but the deaf and the blind could have failed to take notice. But for what purpose ? To him these sacrifices were never privileged opportunities to raise the soul above the body, and the spiritual above the earthly. They were mere advances in a bargain, the profits of which he expected to realize by way of increased returns from God, and pleasurable notoriety before men. Such men are a great hindrance to the advancement of unselfish worth. They imbue their companions with an unconscious notion that mere conformity to spiritual requirements is all-

314 IMPROVEMENT ERA sufficient,and that an equivalent compensation will inevitably follow. That the mere deed is the test, and the power to act or the inspiring motive is of minor importance. Surely nothing in reason or revealed truth warrants such conclusion. Good deeds will unquestionably be our witnesses before the judgement seat of God, but good motives and the opportunity for doing good will be the criterions by which we will be judged. It was upon this theory that Christ justified, or rather acquitted, the Publican in this parable. In mere numbers of praiseworthy actions, the Pharisee probably outranked the Publican. These the Master did not undervalue, nor did he approve the wrongs of the Publican. With equal sincerity of purpose and equal humility of spirit, the verdict would have been wholly different. But the Pharisee ignored the very foundation of righteousness —the love of God and the love of neighbor. These twin commandments embrace the whole law of God, and comprehend the entire message of salvation. In their absence, all other demonstrations of piety become mere empty ceremony. The Publican, however, had thoroughly absorbed the spirit of these supreme mandates. His pleading words evidenced a most intense desire for the love of God, and his humble selfdesignation attested his love for neighbor. Whatever frailties others might possess, he confessed himself a sinner. He did not accuse his brother by comparison, nor attempt to offset his own faults by whatever good he might have done. He offered no excuse for his infirmities, and asked no immunity from the just consequences of his own wrongs. All his thoughts centered in the hope that God would not continue a deserved displeasure, nor withdraw divine assistance in whatever trials might yet beset him. And so, in the hopeful anguish of his heart, he could only exclaim, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." The much-embracing adequacy and the continually unfolding expansiveness of this concise prayer, was doubtless intended to illustrate one of the many valuable lessons taught in this parable. Superfluity of words for devotional purposes have never received divine sanction. All of Christ's sayings were terse and pithy ; but nevertheless, stimulatingand soul arousing. Long prayers and long sermons never incite action; they weary the mind and tire the body. Whenever the soul is truly stirred, words are wholly inefficient. Peal joy, or real grief, is neither verbose nor noisy.

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"The soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed," or even "the upward glancing of an eye, when none but God is near," is certainly more inspiring to the human soul, and must be more acceptable to our Heavenly Parent than the formal reading from a prayer-book, or the prolonged, though extemporaneous, attempt at public eloquence. One is substance, the other form. One is a wish of the soul referred to God, the other a thought of the mind submitted to men. The contrasted prayers of this parable clearly indicate their effective difference. One emanated from the pride of self-righteousness, and therefore diffused itself in

its expected reward of temporal applause, while the other arose from the depth of a penitent heart, and therefore mounted to the throne of God. "I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Oqden, Utah.

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