Who will get to be part of the coming Kingdom? This is the question that Jesus is answering in this section of teaching. With the parable of the persistent widow (18:1-8) Jesus tells us that it will be those who are found faithful when he returns. For those who recognise a lack of consistent faithfulness in their lives, the next parable is good news. Jesus guaranteed entrance into the coming Kingdom to those who are the penitent: those who recognise and lament their own faithlessness. This also is an expression of the faith that Jesus wants to find when he returns (18:8). The problem with the Pharisee is that he had faith in his own alleged godliness, not in the mercy of God. He assumed that God would accept him and reject the tax collector. That is understandable given how meticulous the Pharisees were at following God’s law and how corrupt and cruel the tax collectors were. But this greatly dishonours God who describes himself as a “compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). Many people, feeling the weight of their own sin, turn away from God in the assumption that they will be rejected. But this is the same error made by the Pharisee in this parable. He was wrong about God. The tax collector, by contrast, went to God and appealed in faith to his mercy. This is the faith that saves. It is a faith in who God is and what he has done to save sinners like us.
Take comfort in the fact that Jesus loves to bless the least deserving people.
Read Luke 18:9-14
