Luke 18: 9-14 | Quinten Massys | The tax collector said: 'God, be merciful to me'

Luke 18: 9-14   The tax collector said: 'God, be merciful to me'

The Tax Collectors,  Painted by Quinten Massys (1466–1530),  Painted in the late 1520’s Oil on panel © Liechtenstein Collection, Vaduz Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’   READ MORE     Reflection on the Painting Today’s Flemish painting depicts a tax collector in his office, and a man paying his taxes (he is not looking too pleased!). How do we know the man on the left is a tax collector and not just an accountant for example. First of all, all the riches shown are a clue: money on the table, jewellery on the table and on the head-dress, all  showing excess, a fur edged coat, but most importantly scholars have been able to identify what the man wrote in his book: the sequence of lines are listing excise receipts for wine, beer, fish, weigh-house (weghe in Flemish), market (halle), ferries (veren) etc… The activity therefore listed, is the business of tax farming. So the man holding the pen is a city tax official. The other man, looking straight at us, is in the uncomfortable position of being audited and he will have to pax his tax. Hence he is looking rather annoyed and pointing towards the book thinking ‘do I have to pay this?’. He is seen holding an empty purse, whilst the official is counting the coins he gave him. The pharisees were the strict Jews. Whilst they believed and were disciplined, their observance of the laws made them feel like they were above everybody else, more important, more superior. They felt confident in their own righteousness and became self-righteous, which is an entirely different thing altogether. Luke writes that the pharisee was praying ‘not to be like this tax collector here’, which points towards a complete lack of humility. The tax collector on the other hand is humble, he repents and asks God for forgiveness. He wants to grow closer to God, a beautiful act of humility by a man who was probably very despised by all the other people around him in society seen he was a tax collector. Jesus in this parable makes the point that even a tax collector can be a wonderful, good person and that the man’s faith would save him. He asked for something that he has no right to expect: forgiveness… And in his humility, God would forgive him… by Patrick van der Vorst