Prayers and Publicans

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus knows all about faith and fear. We see that in how He interacts with people along the road to Jerusalem. We are living in days when men’s hearts fail them because of fear. In one parable He pictured our need to “always … pray and not lose heart” (18:1).

There once was a judge who cared more about his advancement than righteous decisions. A woman desperate for help came to him for justice, but he couldn’t be bothered with her. The funny thing was, she wouldn’t leave until she got his help. So reluctantly, he listened.

Some describe this judge as being like God, as though He will hear if you hold on long enough. Instead, the Lord says God wants to hear and answer prayer. If you really believe that, how would you pray differently? Go to God knowing He wants to hear your request and He wants to answer.

Jesus tells us more about prayer in His parable about the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee was at the top of the religious ladder. The publican (a tax guy) was at the bottom. When the Pharisee prayed, he revealed his prideful heart. “Thank you, God, that I am better than other men ….” Jesus said the Pharisee was just talking to himself—his prayer never got out of the rafters.

Meanwhile the tax man slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, and said, “God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.” As a publican, he was not allowed in the temple and had no access to that mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. He said, “Lord, if you could only make a mercy seat for me! I want to come.”

Jesus said that man was heard. Why? Because Jesus was on the way to the cross to make a mercy seat for him. Christ is the mercy seat for our sins, and for the sins of the whole world. (See 1 John 2:2.)

Another publican, Zacchaeus, in Jericho was also on a certain path far from God. He turned his back on his country and gave up his religion. He had gone down a one-way street chasing riches, and he knew of no way to get back to the mercy seat.

Jesus found Zacchaeus (up in a tree), and said, “Get down here, Zacchaeus. I’m going to your house for dinner.” No one witnessed their dinner conversation, but when the door opened later that day, Zacchaeus was a new man. He admitted his guilt of robbing the poor and promised to make right the things he had done wrong. When our Lord talked to people, He usually spoke of two things: (1) our need and (2) God’s ability to meet our need. Zacchaeus knew he was a sinner, and so did everyone else. Jesus told him there was a remedy for sin. He said, “I am going to Jerusalem to die on the cross so that there will be a mercy seat for you, Zacchaeus.”

Every day in this important week before the Cross, Jesus taught in the temple and continued to battle the religious leaders in pointed questions and answers. They tried to trap Him, but He always brilliantly engaged them. Finally, Jesus silenced them by telling them the parable of the vineyard.

Jesus let these religious rulers know He knew their plan to kill Him. They were going to crucify Him, and God was going to permit it. They could not, however, thwart God’s purposes—to save.

There was no mistaking who Jesus said He is: He is Messiah, Son of God, come to die for the sins of the world. He will die, be buried, and be raised from the dead on the third day. Believe this and you will be saved. Reject this and follow on the path to hell and eternal separation from God. The line is that clear.

1. Why do you think Jesus spent so much time teaching about prayer?

2. Why do you think some people recognize their own need for mercy, while other people seem unaware of their own need? How often do you consider your own need for mercy?

3. If all the world knows about our conversions is what it sees in our lives, what does the world know of Jesus by watching you?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on Luke 18, Luke 19 and Luke 20.