Prayer
Sermon October 26, 2025 Prayer
Reverend Fred Okello
Today, in light of Luke 18:9–14, we are encouraged to look at a story that shows how the heart acts. Jesus delivers this narrative to those who believed they were right and thought everyone else was wrong.
A Pharisee and a tax collector went to the temple to worship. One stood tall, proud, and confident of how good he was. The other person stood a little way apart, head down and hand on chest, saying, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Jesus’ parable is an image that keeps coming back in every generation: the powerful people and the quiet people who ask for justice; the politicians and the honest people who speak truth to power.
Mahatma Gandhi was one of these men in modern times. He was a lawyer who became a human rights fighter and fought against the powerful British Empire using truth, humility, and nonviolence instead of weapons or soldiers.
Gandhi thought that moral strength was stronger than military strength. He campaigned for the rights of the impoverished, the outcast, and the colonized. He was made fun of, put in jail, and beaten, yet he wouldn’t fight back. His prayer was his protest. His sermon was his fasting. His power came from how simple he was.
He walked barefoot among the destitute, made his own clothes, and got along with those who didn’t like him. Finally, he was killed in 1948, a martyr for the notion that humility beats pride.
Gandhi’s power, like the tax collector in Jesus’ story, came from his spirit, not his status; from his heart, not his pride.
Jesus starts with the Pharisee who “stood by himself and prayed for himself.” He said, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—thieves, bad people, or even this tax collector.”
The Pharisee talks about himself five times in two verses. His prayer was not a discussion with God; it was a show for other people. The Pharisee’s issue was not with his fasting or tithing; they were commendable habits. The issue was that he trusted himself, not God. He thought he was holy because of the misdeeds of others. He was big in front of people but small in front of God.
We should also examine ourselves: When we pray, are we trying to impress God or tell Him what we’ve done wrong? You can go to church, serve faithfully, and sing the correct songs, but your heart can still be full of pride. I can be in this pulpit and deliver the best professional sermon and think I am above the sermon.
We can start to imagine that our virtue makes us superior than others, like the Pharisee, or that being in the church guarantees our place in heaven. Pride makes us blind to how much we need mercy. The Pharisee felt he was praying to God, but he was really only talking to himself.
Then the tax collector comes along. People hate him, turn him down, and think he’s a sinner. He stands far away, unable to even look up at heaven. He hits his chest and says one of the shortest but most powerful prayers in the Bible: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” He doesn’t make excuses for himself. He doesn’t think of himself as better than anyone else. He just begs for mercy.
The Greek word “hilaskomai” means “to make amends or to atone.” And it is a prayer that acknowledges that only God can forgive our sins.
The tax collector brought repentance, admitted he was wrong, he spoke from the heart, and Heaven listened. But the Pharisee brought his resume, he bragged about how good he was and talked a lot of words.
Friends, God doesn’t care how many prayers we say; he cares about how humble our hearts are. Heaven is kind to people who know they need grace.
Mahatma Gandhi reportedly stated, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” He knew that strength without humility is corruption, but humility with conviction is unstoppable.
Gandhi’s power, like that of the tax collector, didn’t come from what he had, but from what he gave up—his pride, comfort, and safety—for the cause of truth.
Jesus tells us to be humble in a world that encourages vanity. Jesus blesses those who are sad in a culture that emphasizes status. In politics, business, and even in church, it’s easy to want to display power and stand tall. But God’s Kingdom starts with prayer on your knees.
I will conclude with the words of a young girl in Kenya who recently eulogized her father—a man who had suffered greatly while fighting for democracy. As she ended her tribute, she said with quiet strength, “Though the King is dead, long live the crown!”
She knew her father was gone, but she also knew that what he stood for—the values of truth, courage, and justice—would live on in the hearts of millions. His body had fallen, but his spirit had risen to reign in the conscience of a people forever changed.
Let’s pray!
God, who is kind and merciful, we come to You with open hearts, not with pride. Please forgive us when we put our faith in ourselves rather than in You. Show us how to be humble, how to repent, and how to be strong by giving up. In a world full of pride, make us instruments of peace. Let our lives, like Your Son Jesus Christ's, show the mercy that saves and the love that raises. In the name of Jesus, who humbled himself even to the cross and was raised to the highest place, we pray this. Amen.