The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Our final parable for this unit was the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. As is true for many of the parables, it is very short in the original, so we had to do some embroidery to make it more visual.

We began by introducing our Pharisee. Before we began, our storyteller of the morning asked, shouldn’t he have phylacteries or something? Great idea! We even happened to have one lying around from a long-ago craft time, so used that. Now this Pharisee was very zealous for God’s law. He would never take a bribe: someone comes up & waves a $100 bill at him (yes, we have them aplenty here; they’re worth around $12 US) and asks if he could help his business go smoothly. He gestures, No, No! Our Pharisee pursued justice. We had two sisters start arguing (they are good at this!), and he said to each in turn: you have some fault, and you have some fault. And had them shake hands. Next: he would never commit adultery. He chose a “wife” and then the two walked arm in arm, while another girl started blowing kisses at him. The script said he was supposed to cover his eyes, but instead he started blowing kisses back! Oops! We finally did get him to cover his eyes, but I don’t think he had any idea why. Our model Pharisee also fasts regularly: someone began passing cookies out to the other kids but when they were offered to him, he had to do the “No, No” again. I was proud of him for managing to do that! He does like his cookies! Finally, he tithes everything he gets. Someone gave him a bouquet of 10 plastic flowers. He cut one off and stuck it in a vase in front of the offering box.

Next we introduced our tax collector. This fellow, we said, had a hard time finding a really good job. (I stole this from the parable of the unjust steward). He had tried doing road construction—beating at the floor with a cardboard pickaxe—but he wasn’t strong enough (dumps the pick, wipes his brow). And he hated begging (going around the room with a tin cup labeled “alms”; no one gave him anything). Finally, he got a job with the hated Roman government as a tax collector. The salary wasn’t great, but he could easily supplement it by padding the tax bills. Which he didn’t feel real good about, but a guy’s got to live, right? (Changes label on cup to “income tax” and now everyone has to put in some coins.)

So now today is the Sabbath, when everyone goes to the temple. The leader asks if anyone would like to pray. Our Pharisee stands up and thanks God for keeping him holy, not like SOME people (points at tax collector). Our tax collector prays, too, but he doesn’t stand up or speak loudly. Simply hits his chest a couple of times and says, forgive me.

We ask everyone, which one of these prayers was more pleasing to God? Indeed, Jesus closed this parable by saying that he who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. We also held up I Peter 5:5, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Our game went really long, but I hope it was worthwhile. First, each person, like the Pharisee, had to say something they were really good at. Then we went around again but this time they had to say something they wanted to change in the coming year. Some kids needed a lot of coaching, but eventually everyone participated to some degree.

Craft was those long fringes that Pharisees like to have on their garments to show how pious they are. The only picture I took the whole morning was of the scarf with all the tassels attached. I’ll add that later when I get it uploaded…