The Temple, A Pharisee, A Tax Collector, And the Kingdom of God: Rereading a Jesus Parable (Luke 18:10-14A).

The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Luke 18:10-14a, is one of Luke's "example stories," because the context into which Luke has placed the parable (vv. 9 and 14b) makes it clear that in prayer the reader is to have the attitude of the tax collector (and to avoid the Pharisee's attitude). To "go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37) is the obvious exhortation--so much so that this interpretation of the parable in its Lukan context is available to virtually any reader. Nevertheless, even on the level of the Gospel of Luke, careful historical consideration of the characters and setting of the parable can yield a greater sense of the brief story's richness. (1) The focus of this article, however, is on this parable apart from the Lukan context in order to address how the parable may have functioned on the level of Jesus' preaching of the kingdom of God. We begin, therefore, with a summary of the defense of the historicity of the parable (2) and the redactional nature of the Lukan context, v. 9 (3) and v. 14b. (4) We will then be prepared to consider the original structure of the parable and note possible Lukan touches added to the parable proper. (5) Finally, we will propose a context in Jesus' ministry in which he might have told this parable and the possible reactions and understandings that the parable may have engendered. The general scholarly acceptance of the parable as an authentic piece of Jesus tradition and the Lukan character of the context can first be supported by noting that only Luke presents some parables as if they were stories told to offer moral examples. (6) Besides the parable treated here, the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21), and the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) are included among those parables classified as "example stories." (7) The lack of multiple attestation to the genre of "example stories," at the very least, makes it difficult to affirm the historicity of this form. (8) More specifically with respect to Luke 18:10-14a, if the original intention of the storyteller, Jesus, was to give an example of humility in prayer, (9) it seems unlikely that Jesus would have chosen a tax collector, with whom his listeners would have been reticent, even unwilling, to identify. (10) On the level of Jesus, then, I take this parable as a story that refers to the kingdom of God, (11) at least implicitly, and perhaps could have done so more explicitly as a response to a query similar to Luke 13:18: "What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it?" (12)