Lent, for a large swath of Christianity, is the one time of the year when we “get religion”, when we normally step it up in terms of some of the religious disciplines, whether it be prayer, fasting, or self-denial. As we do so, it’s critical that we do it for the right reasons. As the church enters into Lent today, this Ash Wednesday, Jesus’ little story about who has a better prayer, told by Luke alone in the gospels, is worth noting.
Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous (Luke 18:9). This is the trap for religious people, those of us who’ve been around the church for a while: we begin to believe that it’s because of our prayer, our fasting, our self-denial, hallmarks of a Lenten discipline, that we’re getting somewhere with God, that we have right-standing with Him. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus illustrates this with the story of the Pharisee, the insider, and the tax collector, the outsider, who go up to the temple to pray. And though this is told with the usual hyperbole that often accompanies these stories, it clearly applies to real life, both then and now.
As you listen in to the prayer of the Pharisee, what’s the dominant pronoun? It’s first person singular, the “I”. And what’s his attitude toward others? It’s contempt, shown in what he thinks about the tax collector next to him. His so-called righteousness is based on what he’s done, and on his judgment of others being worse than he. This prayer won’t get much of anywhere. As one translation puts it, this guy was “praying with himself”.
Notice what’s striking about the prayer of the tax collector: it’s simple, it’s direct, and it’s an appeal for mercy, pure and simple – God, be merciful to me, a sinner! (Luke 18:13). If you will, this prayer “worked” for, as Jesus said, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other (Luke 18:14). In fact, this prayer has become the basis for a prayer used by followers of Jesus worldwide, throughout the centuries, the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.“
So this Ash Wednesday, may the focus of our prayer and of our life be not on ourselves, and on all we propose to do for God, as if that made a heap of difference. Instead, let’s focus on God, on His mercy, on all He’s done for us. Then, with a gracious response to Him in prayer, manifested in ways that we show our gratitude this Lent in fasting and self-denial, we will find ourselves able to go home, justified, having a right standing with God and with others.
So may this Lenten season become our better prayer.
