When Mark Twain said it wasn't the parts of the Bible he didn't understand that bothered him but the parts he did, he may have had this Gospel reading in mind. Luke 18:9-14 is an unambiguous story Jesus told, "to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else" (18:9, CEV). Who were these contemptuous and contemptible people? Could they have been wealthy townspeople? The well-placed and secure religious authorities? Or could they have been two or more of his own disciples who were hoping to be given special assignments or rewards from their great teacher? The text does not say. But since Jesus uses a pious Pharisee as the "bad example" in his story, he most likely was not addressing a group of Pharisees.

In Jesus' day, the Pharisees (a name that means "the separate ones") were a group of sincerely religious Jews who believed in doing good works, praying, and fasting. Besides worshiping in the temple, they gathered in homes to worship as a group and study the Scriptures. They were not part of the religious establishment responsible for running the temple, and they supported themselves by holding regular jobs. It is perhaps for this reason that not working on the Sabbath, the Jewish holy day, was so important to them (Luke 6:1-5).

It would have been shocking to Jesus' listeners, whoever they were, to hear him, a pious teacher himself, suggest that a Pharisee might use the act of prayer to recite his own virtues and take glee in being a better person than a tax collector. It would have been equally shocking for them to hear Jesus suggest that a tax collector might be the type of person whose example they should follow. Tax collectors were not simply bureaucrats doing an unpleasant job. In Roman times, they were local people who often bribed their way into these positions, used force to collect taxes, and often exacted much more than was actually required by the government (pocketing the difference, of course). Because they collected taxes from their own people and assisted the occupying government, they were seen by Jews as traitors. No self-respecting Jew would have willingly associated with a tax collector.

Both the Pharisee and the tax collector came to the temple to pray to God. But Jesus says it is the tax collector who pleased God. If you compare the two worshipers' prayers, the tax collector's is shorter and includes a sincere recognition of his sinfulness: "God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner" (Luke 18:13, CEV). So overwhelmed was he by his grief over his sins that, unlike the Pharisee, he does not even pause to give thanks to God for the blessings he has received. Although the tax collector may have selfishly acquired wealth or forced widows and orphans from their homes, he sincerely acknowledged before God that such acts were sinful. The Pharisee cared only for his status among men and, even in his repentance, needed to make sure God knew there were sinners greater than himself. The tax collector, deeply remorseful for his sins, cared only for his status before God.

Jesus does not really tell us the ending of the story. We do not know whether the forgiven tax collector changed the way he conducted business or found a better way of making a living. The lesson we are to learn, however, is the importance of humility in God's eyes. As the Psalmist says to the LORD, "You bless all who depend on you for their strength and all who deeply desire to visit your temple" (Psalm 84:5, CEV). Such humility is rooted in an abiding trust in God. It is the kind of humility and trust that the apostle Paul felt in spite of the hardship and persecution he suffered as he took the gospel to the further reaches of the Roman world. "The Lord gave me the strength to tell his full message," he says. "And I was kept safe from hungry lions. The Lord will always keep me from being harmed by evil, and he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. Praise him forever and ever! Amen." (2 Timothy 4:17,18, CEV).