Progressive reflections on the lectionary #87

Monday 20th October 2025

Luke 18:9-14 The Pharisee and the tax collector - a dramatic exposé of systemic injustice

Two men stand up to pray: one is the epitome of good social standing - the other is trapped in the machinery of economic exploitation, active in the exploitation of the weak as part of the empire system. The first is a popular figure, proud of his strict adherence to Jewish law, the other despised for his part in the corrupt structures of his society. We are granted a privileged view into their internal world - briefly able to hear their prayers - and so learn how even deep religious piety can ignore systemic injustice.

In 141 BCE, the Hasmonean kingdom formally began when the Maccabean revolt, sparked by the oppressive rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (God made manifest), secured Judean autonomy from the Seleucid Empire.

This local victory reflected a broader unravelling of Seleucid power, which had once stretched across much of the Hellenistic world. The Judean revolt is chronicled in the books of the Maccabees and is commemorated in the festival of Hanukkah, which celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.

After the decline of Seleucid control, Judea enjoyed a brief period of independence under the rule of the Hasmonean kings. Unfortunately, though, internal strife between Hasmonean brothers led to Roman intervention in 63 BCE, when Pompey annexed the region. Soon Rome controlled both the monarchy and the high priesthood, installing client kings and turning the temple into a site of imperial influence.

The Sadducees, a conservative priestly elite, cooperated with Roman rule to preserve their authority. This was the only move, really, for the Sadducees, who couldn’t survive without the temple. This was demonstrated when, after the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, during a revolt against Rome, the Sadducees lost their institutional foundation and disappeared from Jewish history.

In the years following the Maccabean revolt, during the early part of the Hasmonean kingdom, divisions emerged in Judea about how Hebrew scriptures should be interpreted - diverging sects held starkly opposing views. Among them were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. (Ultimately the Pharisees would prevail, it is their model of Judaism which, effectively, persists to this day.)

Fast forward to the years of Roman occupation, and the Pharisees, who were strict and believed in Jewish national autonomy, rejected Roman rule - emphasising instead Torah observance. Their position on this added to their popularity among the people who looked to them for moral and religious leadership - so when a Pharisee stands up to pray in our story he is expected to know how to do it right. In a typical literary flourish he is paired off in this parable against his binary opposite - a ‘publican.’

In first-century Judea, tax farming was the privatized system of tax collection, it functioned as a kind of pyramid scheme.

Wealthy individuals, or syndicates, would bid for contracts to collect imperial taxes and, then extract revenue from local populations. The profit was in the excess that they could collect over and above that which was required of them.

This was cascaded downwards, with the collection done by local enforcers, traitorous individuals known as ‘publicani’ who earned a crust, and tried to gain social advancement, by squeezing as much cash as they could out of the ever more hard pressed locals. Iniquitous, oppressive, destructive.

The contrast is stark - the Jedi master and the Sith lord - the angel and the demon.

And yet the writer we call Luke, always fond of a great reversal, overturns his readers’ expectations yet again. In this story, unique to his tradition, we learn that it is the collaborating tax collector who ultimately goes home ‘justified’.

“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.” Luke 18: 14 (emphasis added)

It’s this highlighted phrase that summarises so much of Luke’s writing - it’s the message of the great reversal that keeps coming through his stories. The intention is to shock - to disrupt thought patterns. To defy expectations. To change attitudes.

The tax collector’s overheard prayer in this story: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” isn’t just a personal confession, it is a lament from someone stuck in a system from which they are unable to escape. A desperate, heartfelt, cry from a person who wants to change.

What it demonstrates is the way that ‘sin’ is not simply about personal moral failings, but about social structures. The Pharisee is a good man, but ignores the reality of the situation his antagonist finds himself in, and so misses the point. The publican on the other hand is part of a machinery of oppression and in this snapshot we witness his realisation - his own ‘epihany’. This moment of profound insight into his condition is his breakthrough. It is only by recognising this reality that he may be able to find some form of liberation - or salvation.

The parable is not simply a story about two types of men, one good but proud, the other bad but humble. It’s really a masterly piece of storytelling that exposes the way that the empire reaches into the lives, and hearts, of normal people. It demonstrates how even pious religious observance can entirely overlook the brutal realities of systemic injustice, and offers the possibility of radical repentance for even (or especially) those of us who find come to recognise that we are thoroughly morally compromised.

The publican was doing his best to survive in a brutal world - but came to a realisation that the path he had chosen was the wrong one. The likelihood is that this was true of many others in similar positions. Luke challenges his readers to ask this of themselves. Luke’s Jesus holds out hope to all who find themselves caught in the cogs of oppression, and says to those who are proud of their ability to rise above the mêlée: “nice try - but you’ve missed the point”.

This blog is taken from Simon's Substack email series, to subscribe please go to https://simonjcross.substack.c...

Image: Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash