Bulletins
Have Mercy On Me Sinner
In Luke chapter 18 Jesus tells this story:
11 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. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “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.’
14 “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.”
In the first part we meet the Pharisee. This man was (presumably) a keeper of the law and felt that he was just before God. He prays to God, but half-heartedly. His prayer was more of a thanking of God for making him better than others. It was not a prayer for self-improvement, of self-critique.
On the other hand, we meet a sinful tax collector in the middle of the throes of overwhelming self-abasement, humility, and truth telling, offering himself to the mercy of God who alone can guide him out of the pit he is in.
Yet Christ declares the unexpected to the crowd. The crowd being “those who trusted in themselves” (vs 9). The unexpected was essentially that it wasn’t the outwardly righteous that come away exalted by God, rather, those who lower themselves, begging God for mercy for the sins they have committed, turning to Him for safety and deliverance.
- May_2025_bulletin_1-1746052398.pdf (194.33 kB)
