The Jewish Annotated New Testament (45 page)

18
Then Jesus
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told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.
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He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.
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In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’
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For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,
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yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”
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6
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.
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And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?
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I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

⁹
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
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“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
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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.
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I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’
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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!’
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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.”

PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR (LK 18.9–14)

Some Christian readers dismiss the Pharisee as hypocritical, sanctimonious, and legalistic, and in turn identify with the tax collector, the appropriately repentant and humble sinner. However, this reading traps interpreters: to conclude (following 18.11), “God, I thank you that I am not like
this Pharisee
” places the readers in the very position they condemn. Moreover, this interpretation overlooks the Pharisee’s numerous supererogatory qualities: tithing, fasting, giving thanks without asking for something in return.

Other readers presume that the tax collector stands “far off” (18.13) because other worshipers ostracize him, believing him to be ritually impure. The parable says nothing about either ostracism or impurity; to the contrary, to enter the Temple a person must be ritually pure. Even were he ostracized, the cause would not be impurity but employment: he works for Rome, the occupation government.

Still other readers perceive the Temple to have become an elitist, xenophobic, misogynist, fully corrupt “domination system.” Again, the parable thwarts this stereotype, since it is in the Temple that repentance and reconciliation occur.

Finally, might we see the Pharisee as helping the tax collector. Just as the sin of one person impacts the community (hence, e.g., “forgive us our sins” [11.4] rather than “forgive me my sins”), so the merits of the righteous can benefit the community (see Gen 18.24–33; hence one view of the cross: the sacrifice of one can save the many). Perhaps the Jews who first heard this parable understood the Pharisee’s merit positively to have impacted the tax collector. This would be the parable’s shock: not only that the agent of Rome is justified but that the Pharisee’s own good works helped in that justification.

¹⁵
People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it.
¹⁶
But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
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Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

¹⁸
A certain ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
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Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
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You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.’”
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He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.”
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When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money
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to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
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But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich.
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Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
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Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

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Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
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He replied, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”

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Then Peter said, “Look, we have left our homes and followed you.”
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And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
³⁰
who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

³¹
Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
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For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon.
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After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.”
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But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

³⁵
As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
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When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening.
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They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth
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is passing by.”
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Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
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Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
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Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him,
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“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me see again.”
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Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.”
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Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

19
He entered Jericho and was passing through it.
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A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.
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He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.
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So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.
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When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”
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So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.
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All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”
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Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
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Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.
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For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

¹¹
As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
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So he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return.
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He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds,
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and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’
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But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
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When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading.
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The first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’
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He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’
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Then the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’
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He said to him, ‘And you, rule over five cities.’
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Then the other came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth,
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for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’
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He said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?
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Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’
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He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’
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(And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’)
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‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
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But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.’”

²⁸
After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.