A Pharisee and a tax collector…

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's snobbery and one-upmanship. People trying to pretend they re superior. Makes it so much harder for those of us who really are.

 

Dame Patricia Routledge, the actress passed away the other week. Her most famous character was the wonderful Hyacinth Bucket. That character enjoyed being superior.

 I loved Keeping Up Appearances, mostly because when in the car Hyacinth and her husband Richard, were my Auntie Doris and Uncle Bob.

 

“Richard.... Drive very slowly past number 23, I want her to see my hat.”

 

Auntie would love to play the superior card. Auntie was a bit of a snob. There was a bottle of Tia Maria in the cupboard every year for Christmas but you weren’t allowed to drink it, there was a 1977 Queens Silver Jubilee soap on the toilet, but you weren’t allowed to use it, she’d clean her skirting board with a toothbrush and every Christmas Day the lunch had to be eaten, washed up and everything put away in time to her to change into her posh frock to see the Queen at 3, as though the Queen could see her!

 

I wonder who has the biggest ego in the world? Maybe it’s a certain President who is building a ballroom he will name after himself. President Trump has been signing Bibles, as if he wrote it... and the signed copies sell for $1000. ... of course all the parts about love and compassion have been removed. 

 

All the Bible verses that talk about compassion and justice are redacted. Everything about welcoming the stranger, caring for widows and orphans, and loving enemies is gone. The 2000 verses that mention the poor and vulnerable are blacked out. There isn't much left.

 

Imagine Mrs Bouquet and Donald Trump in church! We don’t any of it here but there are superior people in churches! They say their prayers and are better than you! The only Christian in the church. We went to Snaith the other summer and found the Methodist Church. In there, there were boxed pews at the back, which you paid pew rent to have, and they were expensive and private and you went through a private door to get into them without going down the aisle to see the riff raff. There were free seats, quite plain and very uncomfortable in the balcony, as far away from the minister as possible as though we really didn’t want poor people there. And Methodist theology says all are welcome and equal! Lord have mercy.

 

Imagine two people coming into our church this morning. One is a Pharisee and one is a tax collector. Would we seat the Pharisee at the front so he could be seen and the tax collector, not really one of us at the back of the balcony?

 

Jesus tells a story that would have shocked his listeners. Two men go to the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee – respected, religious, righteous by every outward measure. The other is a tax collector: reviled, seen as corrupt, a collaborator with oppression.

But in Jesus’ telling, it is not the respected religious man who goes home justified, it is the one who stands at a distance, beats his chest, and simply prays: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

 

The tax collector shows up in all his vulnerability, and trusts that God will

meet him there. And that, Jesus says, is the posture that opens the door to grace.

 

The Pharisee, on the other hand, may be doing all the right things – but his prayer is really a performance. He assumes the correct position for prayer: he stands. Yet, he stands by himself, setting himself apart from others. But not too far. From his vantage point, he can scan the crowd of worshippers, can even spy a tax collector hunched over on the edge of the assembly. The Pharisee chooses a place with good sight lines, somewhat apart from others, where he can see and be seen. Chin up, eyes casting about the room, he offers prayers to God that are meant to be overheard. 

 

In his prayers, he uses two age-old strategies to puff himself up. One, he brags about himself. And two, he puts others down. Sound familiar? 

Let’s start with the bragging. The Pharisee points out to the Lord God Omnipotent, what the Lord surely already knows: he fasts twice a week and gives a tenth of all his income. One wonders for whose benefit he says these things. For God? Hardly. For the other worshippers? He probably thinks so. For himself?

 

He’s talking to himself more than to God. He’s measuring his worth by comparing himself to others. And that kind of pride, even when wrapped in religion, closes us off – from others, from truth, and from grace.

 

He assumes the correct position for prayer: he stands. Yet, he stands by himself, setting himself apart from others. But not too far. From his vantage point, he can scan the crowd of worshippers, can even spy a tax collector hunched over on the edge of the assembly. The Pharisee chooses a place with good sight lines, somewhat apart from others, where he can see and be seen. His eyes casting about the room, he offers prayers to God that are meant to be overheard. 

He wants God and everyone within earshot to know about his super-duper observance, which goes well beyond that of the hoi polloi. 

Second on the scene, we meet the tax collector. He also stands for prayer, but with lowered eyes. He would not even look up to heaven. He stands not only apart, but also far off, not wanting to be noticed.

Unlike the Pharisee who assumes a position from which to see and be seen, the tax collector tries to fade into the background. There, he beats his breast as a sign of repentance. 

And rightly so, many like the Pharisee probably thought. Tax collectors were contemptible. Not only did they collaborate with the Romans, but they also cheated their fellow Jews. They were Jews who worked for the Romans, so this made them traitors. People resented paying taxes to the foreigners who ruled over them. Tax collectors were not paid an actual wage by the Romans; they were expected to take extra money and keep some for themselves. Many tax collectors were dishonest and abused this system by taking far too much.Lumping him in with thieves, rogues, and adulterers was not so far-fetched.

 

When the tax collector does speak, he utters a simple cry for mercy: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” In the Greek text, the tax collector’s entire petition consists of six words. By contrast, the Pharisee’s speech is twenty-nine words, four times as long. The Pharisee boasts about himself and his deeds, using the word “I” four times. The only thing that the tax collector says about himself is that he is a sinner. Unlike the Pharisee who passes judgment on all manner of people, the tax collector passes judgment only on himself.

But the tax collector does one thing the Pharisee doesn’t. He asks for God’s mercy. The Pharisee basically gives God a status report, a curriculum vitae, highlighting his extraordinary piety and practice. He says the words, “God, I thank you,” but in effect, his speech really says, “God, you’re welcome.” What’s God’s mercy have to do with it? According to the tax collector, everything. It’s the only thing he asks for.

That day, the tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.

Imagine the Pharisee’s face. No wonder he and his community wanted rid of Jesus. The Pharisee had his hands full of self-­righteousness. The tax collector had empty hands.

But it was the tax collector who went home justified. He was declared righteous in God’s sight. No one will ever be counted righteous in God’s sight by trusting in himself. 

William Barclay wrote, “The Pharisee did not really go to pray; he went to inform God how good he was…. No one who is proud can pray. The gate of heaven is so low that none can enter it save upon [their] knees.”

So, what’s this parable about in Boroughbridge in October 2025?

That Christianity isn’t about swank and empty words, going through the motions. Going to church to be seen and getting it done with. A supernumerary I had in my first Circuit in Stalybridge used to say to me about people who wanted power and to be noticed for being better than everyone else “that isn’t Christianity young man, it’s churchianity!” It’s like those ministers who brag how busy they are and never take a day off. Look at us, we work harder than you and pray more effectively than you.

All are welcome and actually those who get it are those who come to find God and say I don’t get it, I have questions but I’m open to your providence and your hand blessing me. There are people dipping their toe into church to try and make sense of life at the moment, and we need to be there for them.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the last century said the Gospel is frankly hard for the pious to understand. Because the Gospel confronts us with the truth saying you are a sinner, a great and desperate sinner. Now come as the sinner you are to the God who loves you madly.

Who do we welcome? All are welcome. Empty words don’t impress God. An open mind and heart God fills with his joy and peace.

Meeting people where they are…

I booked a ticket ages ago for the annual THEOS lecture. This year the lecture was held for the first time outside of London at Methodist Central Hall in Manchester and it was given by Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester.

I love Manchester and its spirit. I trained for ministry here from 1994 to 1997 and living here changed my life. It always feels like coming home when I visit. I stood and rang Lis on Piccadilly Gardens earlier and it was like it was 31 years ago when I landed nervously in the city as a southerner!

Central Hall was reintroduced to me when I needed to see an ecumenical project. My now friend Ian Rutherford invited me over. The place does an amazing work in the city in partnership with others and Ian and other faith leaders work with the Mayor to increase community respect and wellbeing. Andy Burnham sees faith communities as vital in building relationships.

It was a privilege in a packed Central Hall tonight to hear the Mayor give a lecture on moving from a crisis of trust to a culture of encounter. He talked about government systems treating people as numbers, which hammers hope out of them. He said if you don’t start with the person you’ve no chance. He said to us we need to start with him investing in the local again. Manchester has found devolution positive and there are lots of groups working to major things better. One is a faith group. The Mayor warned us we face a choice at the next general election - working together or a dark path we’ve never been down before. He told us we should give hope to people every single day, and be strong. He was inspiring. Manchester has always had spirit in adversity. The Peterloo riots, the IRA bomb in 1996, the Arianda Grande concert and the recent attack on a synagogue recently. People at all four of these have said “enough - this cannot be.”

After a nice Thai dinner I checked into my hotel as because I live in the sticks I can’t get back tonight. I needed a drink. In the bar were Ross and Kyle. Ross once I told him I was a church minister started to pour out his story of his mistakes and his past and his search for meaning. An hour later he thanked me for listening and told me as he is chef at a posh hotel at Langdale in Ambleside, that dinner is on him if I visit. Kyle was slightly worse for wear and told me he knows a vicar in Blackpool then he disappeared to the loo! I was reminded tonight Christian hope all about relationships and building people up. We need a new commitment to being together and understanding each other again. Manchester has had it for ages! For Manchester is the place where people do things… ‘Don’t talk about what you are going to do, do it.’ That is the Manchester habit. And in the past through the manifestation of this quality the word Manchester became a synonym for energy and freedom and the right to do and to think without shackles.” Edward Abbott Parry was Judge of Manchester County Court 1894-1911.

Tonight has been an inspiration. We need to change the world together. Whether Andy Burnham is beginning to think about returning to Westminster and wanting to be PM, I don’t know but tonight he has inspired me to make a difference where I can and to stop and see what’s around me and then work out how I can speak hope into it…

Let’s not let hatred tear us apart

I feel like stopping watching the news but I cannot because I live in the world and need to know what’s happening in it. The world seems to be mad at the moment. 

I’m writing this after the shocking news of the attack on the synagogue in Manchester on Thursday which happened on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, a day of reflection, confession, and seeking forgiveness from both God and others. The day's main observances consist of fasting and abstaining from physical comforts, attending extended prayer services  (usually at synagogue ) It is a day for goal-setting, and intentions for the year ahead.

To have such an action on such a holy day hits at the heart of identity. It says you aren’t me, I’m threatened by you so I will lash out. I don’t know you but I’ve heard about you through the opinions of others or in the press or on social media so I’ve decided I don’t like you. 

Surely, hatred, antisemitism and racism have no place in our society. Those facing increasing violence and hostility on the basis of their race, faith or where they are from need us as Christians, following Christ who came to break down walls that divide us, to stand alongside them. 

Paul puts it this way: For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle way of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.

(Ephesians 2:14-15)

By His death on the cross, Jesus broke down the barriers. The physical curtain in the Temple was split from top to bottom, but He also broke down other barriers that divided people.

The Message explains it this way: He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped (Ephesians 2:15)

Sadly this time of people feeling threatened by another not like them is hitting the headlines but there is another narrative. There are people and groups who have talked together and find unity in their diversity. Coffee morning on a Thursday at Allhallowgate is full most weeks of interesting people. This week I was glad to chat with some Roman Catholic ladies from Lancashire. They go to church in Nelson at the only joint Roman Catholic and Methodist Church in the country. There are things that the two denominations don’t agree on but they told me most of what happens is done together happily. 

Let us pray urgently for respect and communication to come back where it’s gone missing. And let us pray this week that there be peace on earth. And let us celebrate difference. And let us thank God we are not all the same! 

Joanne Cox-Darling the Superintendent of the Manchester Circuit has written a helpful piece on the Methodist website about understanding.

She says “it will begin, as the holiest day of Yom Kippur (the festival of repentance) reminds me – with my own confession - that I too have been complicit through my ignorance and apathy. I cannot now escape from the knowledge that I haven’t been paying enough attention, or listening deeply enough to what I have been shown and told.

It will begin by naming antisemitism within communities, learning how to see it, challenge it, and to speaking it out.

It will begin with rebuilding friendships with Jewish neighbours; intentionally reaching out to ensure they and their families are safe. In time we will find brave spaces to continue to hear the lived experiences of the Jewish communities in Crumpsall, Manchester, Britain, and beyond.

And it will begin around tables with broken bread and shared wine, retelling sacred stories of God’s faithfulness to God’s people within the broken and corrupt systems of the world.

Because with terrorism on our doorstep once again, we have no choice but to pay closer attention.”

The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday morning that “hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart.” If Christ is our peace we need to work harder to break down walls not build more.