Luke 18:9-14
Parable of the Tax Collector and Pharisee
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 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. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “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.’
14 “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.”
Jesus in His Parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee, we learn the importance of being humble...He teaches us the importance of praying with the right attitude...This parable is a lesson for those who think they are better than others, better than those in need, better than those who are not as seemingly as educated as them, better than those believe that the are righteous...The Parable shows us sometimes the righteous, look down on people for who they are, and for no good reason...And we learn that wisdom of those with knowledge temper their knowledge with humbleness...We learn that the humble go home justified before God...
Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote this about those who seek and find Jesus in humbleness: “Only two classes of people found the Babe: the shepherds and the Wise Men; the simple and the learned; those who knew that they knew nothing, and those who knew that they did not know everything...He is never seen by the man of one book; never by the man who thinks he knows...Not even God can tell the proud anything!...Only the humble can find God!”...