Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 56
Parable #37. The Parush and the Tax Collector:
- Today is Day #37
- The Thirty-seventh Mashal of Messiah
- The Parush did not go up to the Temple for the right reason
- Confession and Repentance
- On Yom Kippur Confession is done in the standing position while striking the heart
- We need forgiveness and a New Heart
Today is Day #37:
1. Today is “Day #37” in the forty-nine day Countdown to Shavuot.
2. Today is Thirty-seven days in the Omer.
Today is thirty-seven days, which are five weeks and two days in the Omer.
היום שבעה ושלושים יום, שהם חמישה שבועות ושני ימים בעומר. פ
Haiyom shiv’ah ushloshim yom, shehaym chamishah shavuot ushnay yamim ba’omer.
“You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days.” (Leviticus). “You shall count for yourselves seven weeks, from when the sickle is first put to the standing crop shall you begin counting seven weeks. Then you will observe the Festival of Shavu’ot for Adonai Eloheinu.” (Deuteronomy).
“Blessed are You, Adonai Eloheinu, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.”
ברוך אתה, אדוני אלוהינו, מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציוונו על ספירת העומר.פ
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, melech ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer.
The Thirty-seventh Mashal of Messiah:
שְׁנֵי אֲנָשִׁים עָלוּ אֶל־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ לְהִתְפַּלֵּל אֶחָד פָּרוּשׁ וְאֶחָד מוֹכֵס׃ וַיַּעֲמֹד הַפָּרוּשׁ לְבַדּוֹ וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל לֵאמֹר אוֹדְךָ אֱלֹהִים עַל כִּי אֵינֶנִּי כְּיֶתֶר הָאָדָם הַגֹּזְלִים וְהָעשְׁקִים וְהַנֹּאֲפִים וְגַם־לֹא כַּמֹּכֵס הַזֶּה׃ אֲנִי צָם פַּעֲמַיִם בַּשָּׁבוּעַ אֲנִי מְעַשֵׂר אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי קֹנֶה׃ וְהַמּוֹכֵס עָמַד מֵרָחוֹק וְלֹא אָבָה לָשֵׂאת אֶת־עֵינָיו הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְתוֹפֵף עַל־לִבּוֹ וַיֹּאמַר אֱלֹהִים סְלַח־לִי אֲנִי הַחוֹטֵא׃ אֲנִי אֹמֵר לָכֶם כִּי־יָרַד זֶה לְבֵיתוֹ נִצְדָּק מִזֶּה כִּי כָּל־הַמֵּרִים נַפְשׁוֹ יִשָּׁפֵל וַאֲשֶׁר יַשְׁפִּילָהּ יְרוֹמָם׃
שני אנשים עלו אל בית המקדש להתפלל; אחד פרוש והשני מוכס. עמד הפרוש לבדו והתפלל, אלוהים, אני מודה לך שאינני כשאר האנשים – גזלנים, רשעים, נואפים, ואף לא כמוכס הזה. אני צם פעמים בשבוע, אני נותן מעשר מכל מה שאני מרויח. ואלו המוכס, שעמד מרחוק, אף לא רצה לשאת את עיניו לשמים, אלא טפח על לבו ואמר, אלוהים, רחם נא עלי, על איש חוטא. אומר אני לכם, האיש הזה ירד אל ביתו נצדק יותר מהאיש ההוא; כי כל המרומם את עצמו ישפל, והמשפיל את עצמו ירומם. פ
[Lukas 18:10] “Two men went up to the Temple (הַמִּקְדָּשׁ) to pray. One was a Parush (פָּרוּשׁ-Pharisee) and the other a tax collector (מוֹכֵס). The Parush stood by himself and prayed, saying, “I thank you, God, that I am not like the rest of the people—thieves and exploiters and adulterers—and also that I am not like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I bring a ma’aser (מְעַשֵׂר-a tenth, tithe) of all that I acquire.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance and was not willing to lift his eyes toward heaven. He beat on his heart and said, ‘God, forgive me! I am the sinner!’ I say to you that this one went back down to his house made more righteous than the other (lit. but others are ‘scorned in their eyes’), because all who lift themselves up will be brought low, but whoever lowers himself will be lifted up.”
Confession and Repentance:
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Parush (Pharisee) and the other a tax collector. The Parush stood and was praying this to himself: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.”
The Parush was busy praying to himself. Not God.
The Parush (Pharisee) *stood and was praying to himself. He sure was not talking to Adonai Avinu (God our Father). He was engaged in a monologue within himself. He was encouraging and affirming himself. He was a (self-proclaimed) “separated one” and “holy one.” He was holier than thou: better than the other Yehudim at the Temple. He was the (self-appointed) best of the best. But really? Was he really the best of the best in the eyes of the Holy One? The Mashiach says, No!
Question: What did the Parush do that was so wrong?
Answer: He did not go up to the Temple for the right reason to humbly do confession and repentance.
The commandment of the Torah to repent makes explicit mention of confession (viduy), not of repentance (Numbers 5:6-7). Confessing the words “I have sinned” is the performance of a great and meaningful act. The act of confession must be performed before repentance (teshuvah) can be regarded as complete.
The Parush did not go up to the Temple for the right reason:
This proud, hyper-religious man failed to confess his sins to Adonai.
Since he had not confessed his sins he could not return to Adonai (the LORD). Without confession there can be no teshuvah, literally “return” to Adonai. Instead, this arrogant, self-important person chose to turn the Temple into a place of competition; a kind of religious Olympics where he, the superior one, self-righteously envisioned himself winning all of the medals. Tragically this was not prayer at all. The Parush’s time spent at the temple, therefore, was a waste of his time and God’s time. Without confession Adonai Avinu refused to hear any of this man’s communications.
The only one who heard this self-righteous man’s communications (prayers) was his own “self.”
*The pious Parush and the tax-collector were “standing.” It is very strange that the Messiah would even use the word “standing.” In Temple times everyone stood. Everyone stood all of the time because there were no chairs to sit on! However, today the word ”standing” really means something.
We all stand once a year during the Yom Kippurim services.
During these services we pray the following prayer:
“We have sinned against You purposely and by mistake…We have sinned against You by speaking badly of others…We have sinned against You by greed and oppressive interest…We have sinned against You by rashly judging others…For all these sins, forgiving Adonai (LORD), forgive us, pardon us. Grant us atonement.”
Notice that the so called holy man, the Parush, was actually practicing several of these sins while delivering his prayer. Rather than sincerely confessing and repenting of his sins and professing his faith in the mercy of God – this proud man was busy professing faith in his own self. For he falsely believed that in his own works he was justified (righteous) before God.
How very strange that religion so often is the very means by which we further alienate ourselves from God and each other. The irony in the mashal is that it is the non-practicing Jew (the *immoral tax-collector) that is the justified one and it is the practicing Jew (the Parush) who is the unjustified one.
*Tax-collectors.were considered swindlers and traitors. They collected taxes for Rome and no matter how hurtful – on top of the taxes – they charged whatever they wanted for their own profit.
On Yom Kippur Confession is done in the standing position while striking the heart:
“Adonai Eloheinu (LORD our God), be merciful to me, a sinner!”
But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” Since confession is such a major aspect of the repentance process, it is recited during each of the five prayers of Yom Kippur:
Prayer Service #1: Maariv (מעריב),
Prayer Service #2: Shacharit (שחרית),
Prayer Service #3: Mussaf (מוסף),
Prayer Service #4: Minchah (מנחה), and
Prayer Service #5: Ne’ilah (נעילה).
One should recite his (or her) confession in the standing position with his head slightly bowed to express submission and contrition and in a voice audible only to himself. It is customary to strike one’s heart, the seat of passion and desire, with one’s fist while reciting each stanza of the confessional, as if to say:
“I have sinned due to the unwise counsel and wayward thoughts of you, my heart.”
In contrast to the self-righteous Parush the tax-collector knew how to pray. He knew himself to be a sinner who was in need of forgiveness for himself, his family, and his nation of Israel. He knew where the source of the problem was:
He knew he suffered from a bad heart.
At the core of his being the penitent Jewish man knew that he needed forgiveness – which is something you can never earn – and he knew he needed help for the future:
He knew he needed a miracle, he needed forgiveness and a *new heart!
We need forgiveness and a *New Heart:
“I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Our attitude toward the Holy One of Israel is absolutely critical here. Adonai (our Father) gives grace to the humble but He opposes the proud. He does not want “sacrifice.” Avinu HaRachamim (our Father of Mercies) wants “mercy:” He does not want a perpetual process of religious sacrifices that never really solve the core problem.
We need more than forgiveness followed by a perpetual, unending process of more sins and more religious sacrifices.
We need Divine Help to one day be assured of our being permanently changed from being forgiven sinners to non-sinning “righteous ones.” The core problem is why we strike our hearts. When we ask for forgiveness for sin in the past we are also asking Abba (Father) Avinu (our Father) for His Help not to sin in the future.
We need the gift of the Father—the gift of the unfailing “new heart” of the Indwelling Presence of His Spirit!.
We need the gift of the Indwelling Presence of Adonai Avinu (ה’ אבינו). We all desperately need the Indwelling Presence of His Spirit of Grace and Truth (chesed and emet). He is our “Helper” Who can bring to us His regenerating life that will permanently change us from the Inside-out!