Finding the villain
Sermon by Pr. Sharai Jacob on Reformation Sunday, Saturday, October 25, 2025.
So this is a pretty straight-forward story right? It’s about being humble!
The Pharisee is the “bad guy.” He thinks he’s so much better than the Tax Collector, but really he’s just full of himself. And the Tax Collector is the “good guy” in the end, because he goes home justified.
So we solved it, right? Clearly the Tax Collector is better than the Pharisee.
Great, so we can pray, “Thank you Jesus, that we aren’t like that pompous Pharisee…” Uh-oh. Wait a minute, so if we say the Pharisee is the villain, we end up being the villains ourselves! Shoot!
I was so sure we got it right! The Pharisee is always the bad guy! Pharisees are often depicted in scripture as the opposition to Jesus. Whenever we run into them they’re pushing back against what Jesus has to say. Pharisees are always villains - but I guess not in this parable. He does name some really good things in his prayer. He gives a tenth of his income and fasts twice a week - it’s above and beyond what is expected of him.
Well maybe the Tax Collector really is the villain then? They’re also often depicted as traitors to their own people. They are working for the Roman Empire to collect taxes (which were often unjustly high) from their poor neighbors. Tax Collectors were also often suspected of stealing a little off the top before handing the money off to the Empire. But if we call the Tax Collector the villain, we could still end up praying the same prayer, “Thank you God that we’re not like that darn Tax Collector.”
These characters are both villains! There is no truly righteous character in this parable, besides God. The Pharisee may see himself as different from the tax collector. And maybe the Tax Collector even sees himself as a bigger sinner than the Pharisee. But God sees them as equals. No matter how much good work the Pharisee does or how much sin the Tax Collector is swimming in, both of them are in need of God’s Grace.
Now let’s assume the goal here is not to pray, “Thank God we’re not like the Pharisees or the Tax Collectors!” No matter who we name as the villain in this story, we’ll end up praying the Pharisee’s prayer. But if we place ourselves into the story as an equal villain, amongst our fellow villains. We see that it was the search for a villain in the first place which caused confusion.
When we accept that there is no villain, that we’re all villains, then the parable stops being about a Pharisee and a Tax Collector. The focus becomes their prayers. One prays to repent, and he lays himself bare before God. The Pharisee prays a different prayer, and it honestly just sounds incredibly pompous. I couldn’t find a way to relate to it at first. But recently, as I spent time in prayer, I realized that I did relate to the Pharisee.
Just this week, I prayed, naming the injustice I see and telling God about how angry I feel. Asking God to put an end to it, and praying for those who are working hard to correct injustice. It wasn’t necessarily a bad prayer but, I certainly didn’t feel like I was laying myself bare before God. If I had prayed a more positive prayer of thanksgiving to God for all the good things in the world, I’m not sure it would’ve felt much different.
But I did finally feel “laid bare” once my prayer began to shift, “God, I’m so angry with myself for not being able to do more. Am I doing enough? I’m worried for my loved ones. It’s so hard to trust that you have a plan. Will you show me the way forward? What is the next right thing to do?
Tomorrow is Reformation Sunday. The day Martin Luther stood before God and the church, realizing that no amount of fasting or tithing or striving could make him righteous. We don’t earn God’s love. We receive it. The reformation helps point to us towards the center of this parable.
It’s not about finding villains. It’s not about beating ourselves up about what we might be doing wrong. It’s not even necessarily about the words these two characters prayed. It’s about the posture of their hearts.
The Pharisee had decided already that he was righteous. He wasn’t open to receive from God. The Tax Collector came to God with an open heart in need of Grace. The Tax Collector went home justified because he was open to receive God’s Grace.
So maybe instead of, “Thank you God that I’m not like those other people,” or “God I wish I was like those other people,” our prayer could sound a bit more like this:
“God, reform my heart.
Have mercy on me.
Meet me here. Make me new.”
The promise of this parable is that:
We can all go home justified—not because of who we are,
but because of who God is.
Amen.
