The Pharisee & the Tax Collector

Scripture Reference: Luke 18:9-14

A lesson in prayer & humility.

Cast:
Pharisee
Tax Collector
Narrator

Costume:
n/a

Props:
Pie tin & whipped cream

Notes:
This one takes a little prep work.

1. You need a cream pie hidden, so it can be revealed at the last possible moment. Since the Pharisee is going to take a pie to the face, it would be best if this was a teacher.

2. Enlist one of the kids to play Tax Collector. Make sure it is someone light, because he/she will be lifted up at the end of the skit, which leads me to…

3. Draft 3-4 of the bigger boys (or adults) to rush up and lift the Tax Collector when Narrator says, “and he who humbles himself”. Don’t let the Tax Collector know this is going to happen.

NARRATOR: To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee (point to Pharisee, looking sweet and pious) and the other a tax collector (point to Tax Collector, looking dejected). The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:

PHARISEE: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

NARRATOR: “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,

TAX COLLECTOR: 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

NARRATOR: "I tell you that this man (pretend like you are going to point to the Pharisee then point to the Tax Collector), rather than the other (point to the Pharisee), went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself (hit Pharisee in the face with the cream pie) will be humbled, and he who humbles himself (wait for the boys to rush up and lift the Tax Collector in the air) will be exalted."