Reconciled at the Mercy Seat: A Sermon on Luke 18:9-14
“And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” —Luke 18:9-14
I want to take you back to a particular time in my life.
Not in church, but to the claims department of an insurance company in Australia, where I once worked as a teenager.
There I was tasked with the bank reconciliation of cheques paid out on insurance claims;
and those cheques that had, in return, been submitted to and cleared through the banking system.
I manually compiled a chart (no spreadsheets in those days) listing all the cheques that had been issued, and then those that the bank had cleared.
To help me, I had what was considered leading-edge technology at the time – an adding machine!
I tapped in all the numbers to calculate, and the crunch moment came when I eventually pressed the big red ADD button….
My job was to get the cost of cheques issued to customers, and the value of those submitted to the bank, paid out and cleared, to tally.
Some would have cleared, some not yet. Some would be missing, others had anomalies.
It was tedious, meticulous, and sometimes messy work, but it taught me the importance of accuracy.
It also taught me that reconciliation is not just about numbers — it’s about truth, transparency, and restoring what’s broken.
And that is what Jesus speaks of in Luke 18:9-14
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector: Two Different Ledgers, Two Different Hearts
Jesus tells the story of two men who go to the temple to pray.
One is a Pharisee — confident, polished, self-assured. He reads off his spiritual résumé: fasting, tithing, moral superiority.
His ledger looks clean — but only because he’s ignored the debts he owes.
The other is a tax collector — despised, broken, completely aware of his moral bankruptcy.
He doesn’t even lift his eyes. He simply says, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Jesus says it’s the tax collector who goes home justified – meaning forgiven by God for his sins.
Why? Because he brought the full truth of his account before God.
He didn’t hide the overdrafts. He didn’t inflate his balance. He simply asked for justification. For forgiveness.
Justification vs Reconciliation
Justification is similar to reconciling a company’s bank account— in as much as God clears all the errors of a believer, and brings our spiritual ledger in line with His perfect record.
Reconciliation goes further though: it’s not just about fixing the books, but restoring the relationship.
Because through Jesus, we’re not only made right—we’re welcomed back into fellowship with God.
In the insurance world, reconciling bank cheques meant matching what was recorded with what actually happened.
You couldn’t rig the numbers. If a cheque bounced, you had to address it. If one was missing, you had to find it.
The goal wasn’t to look good — it was to be accurate.
That’s what God desires from us today. Not spiritual performance, but spiritual honesty. Not inflated righteousness, but humble confession.
The Ultimate Reconciliation: Jesus on the Cross
Now here’s the miracle: God didn’t just leave us to reconcile our own accounts. He sent Jesus — the spotless Lamb — to do it for us.
Something amazing and symbolic happened in the Jewish temple at the time of Christ’s death on the cross.
The Curtain in the Holy of Holies
There was a special place there, called the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest was allowed to enter.
Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the priest would enter this most holy part of the temple and offer a sacrifice to God for the sins of all his people – the sacrifice offered was an innocent lamb.
The entry point to this special place was marked by four golden posts standing on silver bases.
An amazing and enormous curtain hung between the posts, completely separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple.
The curtain was about 60 feet tall, 30 feet wide, and about four inches thick.
Images of angels were embroidered all over it in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and it was attached by golden hooks to wooden posts overlaid with gold.
A Barrier Between God and Humankind
But although it was stunning to look at, it was also a barrier between God and his people.
This barrier was removed when Jesus died on the cross, because when He died, this exquisite curtain, literally and simultaneously, split in two, from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51)
This splitting of the curtain is a dramatic point in the history of the Christian faith.
Jesus Became the Sacrificial Lamb
Because, when Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself the role of the sacrificial lamb (as offered by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies) and atoned, himself, for all our sins.
He removed the barrier between God and his people (when the curtain split) and became our High Priest, and the world was then reconciled to him in a way difficult for us to properly understand – then or today.
But Christians believe our sins were all forgiven then, and also all divisions between Jews, Gentiles, and Tax Collectors even, were removed.
St Paul referred to this in his letter to the Hebrews when he said;
We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain. Hebrews 6:19
Through Jesus, the Sacrificial Lamb, the ledger was cleared. The debt paid. The relationship between God and his people was restored; was reconciled.
Because just as in bank reconciliations, where every cheque must be accounted for, so too Jesus accounted for every one of our sins, when he died on the cross — past, present, future.
Not one was missed. Not one was hidden. He accounted for it all.
What Does This Mean for us Today?
Today, this means we need to stop trying to reconcile our souls by comparison.
Because we are not called to be better than others — we’re called to be honest before God.
We need to present our full account to the Lord and not hide behind the bounced cheques of our hearts.
Nor pretend our spiritual balance is higher than it is.
Because when we trust in the finished work of Jesus.
Trust that as he suffered and died on the cross, He split the temple’s curtain, He cleared our ledger, and reconciled believers to God.
Then, like the tax collector, we too will go home justified.
We too, by the grace of God, will be reconciled to him and receive all the blessings of heaven.
Closing Prayer:
Lord, we come not with pride, but with humility.
Not with spiritual spreadsheets, but with open hearts.
Reconcile us to yourself through the blood of Jesus.
May we live in the freedom of the torn curtain, and walk in the mercy of your grace.
Amen.
