Did you hear the joke about the Pharisee?

I love a good joke, don’t you?

I know this is probably a big stretch of my imagination but I believe I found a passage in the bible were Jesus told a joke.

Luke 18: 9 – 13 to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this joke (parable): "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

Ha, ha, ha……and (ha ha)…..and Jesus said: “You guys just kill me!” well, no.

Ok, it’s not really funny nor my best joke.  But it does illustrate that a joke needs information about the characters involved. It also illustrates how the laughs you get from a joke almost always come at somebody else's expense. And Jesus' joke in Luke 18 is no exception.

We need to understand about the Pharisee that they were an exceptional group of human beings! They could be a bit stuffy and materialistic, but these guys were the honest upright citizens that the rest of the community depended on for social stability and moral leadership!

This culture and faith that the people of this time period lived under were Roman rulers. The big question for them was how were the people of God supposed to respond to that Roman rule? You can distinguish the different religious groups of that time by the way they responded to that question.

The response to this rule is they fought back and held a 'jihad' against the Romans! The group generally referred to as 'the Zealots' were the freedom fighters of the first century, they resisted the Roman occupation, staging guerrilla attacks, and trying to resist and corrupt all things Roman. Sound familiar?

These people were yearning for independence and the chance to run their own nation once again. The Zealots were busy planning terrorist attacks while others were fleeing or hiding in their homes. Who was going to pass on the Word of God to those who didn't have the means to run away? Who was going to educate the children, provide religious teaching to ordinary farmers and who was going to mold this culture? Was there anybody up to answering such a call?

The Pharisees!

The Pharisee was a man who believed in God and he believed in the unique calling of his people. He hated the rule of the Romans just as much as everyone else, and yet he didn't run away but stayed in there alongside the people. Pharisees stood for strong churches and strong families, and they were people who were willing to do whatever was necessary to see that their community held together!

As far as the Tax Collector is concerned; a tax-collector in the first Century was greedy; unpatriotic because it involved working as an agent for the foreign occupying power; they were power-hungry and manipulative.

When the Pharisee stands up and prays, "God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector"…he is telling the truth here.

Forgive me for thinking that, as a joke. Jesus has told a story about two natural antagonists - a Pharisee and a tax-collector who both go to pray at the same time. Jesus is probably not going to generate a lot of laughs. But it does have a good punch line.

Luke 18:14 - "I tell you that this man (tax-collector), rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Jesus finishes His story by saying that "the tax collector went to his home justified and not the Pharisee!" The tax collector and NOT the Pharisee! Ah…ha ha ha ha ha ha

We all sin and come short of the glory of God. The Pharisee was just a little more in plain view!

Jesus loved all people…even tax-collectors and prostitutes and addicts of all descriptions and people suffering from mental illness and all sorts of women and men and even… {Punch line}….the Pharisees.

All too often we are the Pharisee. We think that we are better than others, and at our better moments we thank God for it. The only hope for us Pharisees is to recognize that the prayer of the tax collector – "God have mercy on me, a sinner" – is the only prayer we have too.

Being a sinner is no joke!

Here’s a better joke:

Which area of Palestine was the wealthiest? The area around the River Jordan. The banks were always overflowing.