December 10, 2015

Thursday: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ^‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

                ^“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

                “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14).

            John should have been joyfully surprised at the eruption of God’s grace in the ministry of Jesus. Grace is always a surprise. It was certainly a surprise in the parable above. The Pharisee, who did all the right things, trusted himself. He was surprised that Jesus didn’t value that. The tax collector should have been excluded, but Jesus declares him righteous. The tax collector, you see, stood before his God humble and broken (see Psalm 51:17). Isaiah once commented that our best deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6); our best—no matter how good it is—is no basis for God’s favor. To stand broken before God, repentant, emptied of all pretension, expecting nothing—that’s exactly the moment when God’s grace shines. That is a joyful surprise.