Begging God is repugnant to most Christians today, especially those inside the church.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke Chapter 18, verse 10-14.
The parable of the Publican and the sinner would have shocked many people in the first century who heard it.
For one it made a comparison between a Pharisee – a strict religious follower of the Law of Moses and someone who was universally hated and despised by all the Jewish people of that day, namely a “Publican” or tax collector for the Roman Empire. In fact a Publican was the lowest of the low, worse than a sinner in many respects because he was also a traitor to his own people.
Both went to the temple to “pray”, Jesus said but only one walked away “justified.” And it was not the person who people might suspect.
In fact it was the opposite.
It was not the person who studied the Law of Moses and fasted twice a week or gave tithes to the synagogue. Instead it was the one who came before God under no pretext or allusion of who he actually was – a “sinner.” The publican even admitted as much in his prayer to God when he cried out “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
Many people, especially those who attend church today refuse to call themselves sinners in the first place, or come to God as they are. Like the Pharisees they are righteous in their own eyes. They also trust in what they do to become saved.
Many trust in the fact that they go to church on a regular basis or belong to a certain denomination and gives tithes or whatever, just like the Pharisee did. In this respect there is no real difference between those types of people in the church and the Pharisee in the parable.
For me the parable stands as the only real example in the Bible of how it is we can become “justified” or saved before God.
So we are all clear on the subject “justification” is the declaring of a person to be just or righteous before God.
It is a legal terms which signifies “acquittal”, a fact that makes it unpalatable to many in our day, especially among those in the church.
The fundamental question in all religion is, “How can sinful people be just (i.e., be justified) before a Holy God?” Justification is therefore a legal term with a meaning like “acquittal.” In religion it points to the process whereby a person is declared to be right before God.
To become justified according to Jesus one has to come before God under no pretext or allusion of who or what he or she really is – a dirty rotten sinner.
Christians today refuse to do that in many cases instead relying on their own righteousness or what they did to become saved.
Many tell me they are saved because they accepted Jesus into their heart or that they have become baptized by water and/or are a member of a certain church or denomination. Which is no guarantee of salvation. The fact is we can’t get ourselves saved.
Like the religious Pharisee they believe themselves to be righteous before God, because of what they did when in reality that may not be the case at all.
So we have to go before God as we are, a sinner. The second thing we have to do is beg God – almost like a dog who has been beat too much…we have to really beg Him. The very idea of begging like that is repugnant to many people.
No one wants to beg God to have mercy on them and forgive us of our sins, after all they are already saved or justified before God right? Better hold on now? In reality the only thing we can trust in is the fact that we are sinners. After all we don’t know if we are saved or not. But many people refuse to believe that – so like the Pharisee they are justified in their own eyes.
This parable seeks to blow that concept that we are justified or saved by what we do – out of the water. It is, in my opinion the one true path to salvation and justification that the Bible offers. Sadly many people do not realize that.