Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

“A parable is a short story, proverb, or riddle that is meant to challenge one’s notions and provoke change in one’s life—if the hearer’s heart is ready to both understand and apply the message.”

Luke 18:9-14.  Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

The problem:  

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 

The parable:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” 

“The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”

The prescription:  

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

“What is humility? It is that habitual quality whereby we live in the truth of things: the truth that we are creatures and not the Creator; the truth that our life is a composite of good and evil, light and darkness; the truth that in our littleness we have been given extravagant dignity…. Humility is saying a radical yes to the human condition.”  - 

Robert Morneau 

Are my eyes on me or are they on God?