Jesus Looking at His Own Cross
A Walk with Luke
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Luke 18:9-14
We continue our journey to
the cross as we walk with the evangelist Dr. Luke. We started our journey with Paul, then Isaiah,
and today we continue with Luke. We are
going to dig in two passages where Luke has recorded an event in which underneath
the obvious story we find the message of the cross.
The first story: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Publican)
Jesus told a parable about
two men who went up for prayer. In the
Middle Eastern context, going to prayer can mean two things; it could mean to go
to public worship and prayer or doing your own private prayer. If we look at the context, we can see they
went up which means they went to the temple for public worship. Twice daily, they would offer in the temple a prayer
for the atonement of the sins of the people. One was in the morning and one in the
afternoon. During this service the priest would sacrifice a lamb. There would be prayers and songs. The
sacrificed lamb was for the atonement of the people of Israel. In the middle of the service, the priest would
go inside to the Holy of Holies and continue praying, while the people who were
outside would pray their individual prayers.
In our story, it seems these
two individuals were in this service. The
Pharisee was too proud of himself and of his achievements. “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.'” Me, me, and me.
Now 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.”
The better translation is
done in the Armenian krapar (the
classical Armenian). Asdova/ kavia zis zmy.avors, which means, “God, make atonement
for me, a sinner.” The Greek word, which
is used only twice in the Bible, can mean two things: be merciful
to me or make reconciliation.
Jesus says the tax collector
went down justified. He says “for
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted.”
Of course humility is one of
the lessons we can learn from this parable. Yet, it is more than humility. If praying humbly and asking for God’s mercy
would justify us, then why the cross? Why do we need a Messiah?
Please look at the context
where all this is happening. Both men
went to pray for the atonement of their sins. The one who was so proud and did
not acknowledge his own sins went down unjustified. He was not broken in the presence of God. The second one, who did acknowledge his sins,
could not even look up. He was not even sure
that the sacrifice of a lamb would be enough for his atonement. Jesus said, “Yes, this man went down
justified, not because he was a better man, but because he was asking for atonement
from God. ‘Have mercy, give me another
chance, l repent.’”
The man realizes that he cannot
do anything for his sins; he can only ask for forgiveness. The innocent Lamb of God can forgive and make
atonement.
Therefore, the message of
Jesus is clear: Jesus is the Lamb of
God. By telling this parable, Jesus is
not just teaching us how to pray, but also telling us that he will be the
only way for us to find atonement, salvation and justification.
Years later Paul in his
letters indicates that the new Lamb of
God is Jesus. God made the atonement
possible because of Jesus’ cross and resurrection.
We will continue in English.