20th Sunday after Pentecost – October 26, 2025

Luke 18:9-14

Has anyone ever said you look like someone else…or that someone else looks like you?

How does this make you feel?
Be thankful you are not Kayla Nicole…
A media personality and the ex-girlfriend of NFL star Travis Kelce.
How would you like to be compared to Taylor Swift?
Probably not so much…and Nicole doesn’t either.
In an interview this past winter…she said that the constant media comparisons have been exhausting…
And have led her to question her self-worth.

Comparisons can be complex…dangerous and ultimately destructive.

Examples abound in fact and fiction:

Think of Mozart and Antonio Salieri.
Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy.
The comparison complex is also found in the Bible.
Witness Cain and Abel…the former foolishly comparing his offering of the fruit of the ground to the latter’s firstlings of his flock.
Or Moses and his brother Aaron…they both compared themselves unfavorably with the other.
And remember Jacob and Esau…
And the younger and elder brothers in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.
Even the disciples of Jesus himself fell to playing the comparison game…
Bickering about seating arrangements in the future kingdom of God.
The Lord be with you.

So…playing the comparison game is usually not a good thing.

It is the mother of pride…envy and jealousy…
Which in turn bears the grandchildren of visible…tangible sins such as Cain’s fratricide…
And other transgressions about which we read in the early chapters of the Bible.
Comparison is a very dangerous drug that can ultimately harm relationships and personal growth.

All of which brings us to the two characters in our text:

A Pharisee and a tax collector.
In this story told by Jesus…we find the black-robed religious cleric…
Comparing himself favorably with the widely despised creep and functionary of the imperial and occupying Roman government…a tax man.

The worshiping cleric was in the temple praying…

He is a relentless temple-goer who feels that there are two kinds of people in the world:
Good people like himself…and bad people like that tax guy over there.
He knows that God cannot possibly have any argument with him.
In fact…he is the poster priest for pious religiousness.
He is a man who thinks that he is riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels.
And he is not wrong.
He is not a thief…he is not a rascal…he is not an adulterer.
And he is not a tax collector…a criticized servant of the foreign occupying forces.
He is telling the truth when he claims to fast twice weekly and tithe religiously.

So…what is his sin?

Why does Jesus take such a dim view of a good man…
Who any reasonable person would say was a model of virtue?
Here’s the thing…if you wanted a world in which there were either more men like him…
Or more tax collectors…what would be your vote?
I thought so.

But…what if the question is rephrased.

Of these two men…which is the more appealing and attractive one?
Your response now is probably different.
We like the underdog…not the perpetual favorite.
We prefer to hang out with people who are modest…unassuming…real…and genuine…
Rather than with the arrogant…yammering aristocrat of the world who can only talk about themselves…even if what they say is true.
What the Pharisee says in the temple is nothing but the truth…so help him God.
And Jesus found it disgusting.

But here is the problem…

We…the good people that we are…
Move in the direction of aligning ourselves with the very person we have criticized.
Without thinking…we pray:
“Oh my God! I am so glad I am not like the mother who neglects her children and dares to give me parenting tips!
Or…that I am not one of those homeless people living in encampments on our city streets!
I am so thankful that I had the good sense to make good choices…
Land a great job and that I worked my way through school…
So that my family does not need to live on the public dole…which my taxes are funding!
Then we bow…cross ourselves…and leave the church without realizing that the Pharisee is us!

Comparing ourselves to others…who in our opinion…must be ranked beneath us…is our secret sin.

No one is likely to mistake us as a humble sinner in need of the mercy and grace of God.

And then we realize that this religious fellow congratulating himself in the temple square has an eye problem.

A point-of-view problem.
He is not seeing right.
He expresses his thanks to God…to be sure.
But it is the thanks of someone who truly believes that he has done all the heavy lifting…
That his success is all his own doing.

Jesus makes it clear…that the issue here is not that everything he says is a lie…it is not.

The problem is his view that he alone is responsible for the good things in his life!
That is…although this man dressed in religious robes is a good guy…
And he gives thanks to God…
He is so into himself…that he is one of those guys who can strut sitting down.

The difference between him and the other guy…of whom we are glad there are not too many…let’s be honest…

Is that this thieving…lowdown tax man knows who he is…
He knows he is a sinner and he knows that he needs the mercy and grace of God.
And it is this self-awareness that makes him the true saint of this story.

So…for us…it is good to get…sooner than later…to the tax collector’s desperation.

The outcomes we hope for are best achieved…not when we compare how we are doing as opposed to the other guy…

But as we keep our eyes focused on the One who alone is the hope of our salvation.

As we live in godly humility and desperation…we will discover…