Luke 18:9-14
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
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.”
Matthew 9:9-13
The Calling of Matthew
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
What is very interesting about Jesus is that He did not sin...And yet, He came to dwell on earth to help sinners...He seems to be always with sinners...Jesus said He came to earth not to call on the righteous ones, but to call on sinners...Jesus is not looking for the people who think or claim to be righteous, He is looking for sinners...He is looking for those who know they need help...
We sin, man sins...C. S. Lewis said this about our sins, our flaws, and our stumbles, “In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble—because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.”...
Jesus is looking to make us better and more like Him...He is our Way to God and He is our salvation...Jesus holds the keys to eternal life...
Those who were confident of their own righteousness and look down on others, Jesus told them a 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.’...“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.”...