Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
   The tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"
   I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
   - Luke 18:10, 13, 14

A Pharisee and a tax collector had gone to the temple to pray. But how different were their prayers! The Pharisee asked for nothing, but rather boasted to God that he was not like others---rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or as the tax-gatherer. Tax-gatherers were especially despised by the Jewish religious leaders because they were employed to collect taxes from the Jews, who were in bondage to Rome.

The Pharisee prided himself that he was not like others; and, he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he possessed. Thus he was virtually saying that God owed him something! Did he think God could not see through his thin veneer of empty religious pride?

The tax-gatherer, however, had nothing to his own credit to tell God. He was certainly not trying to make God his debtor! Rather, he simply faced the truth common to all mankind, realizing that he was totally indebted to God. He made not the slightest claim that he was deserving of any recognition from God at all. Just the opposite! He referred to himself as "the sinner," thus owning himself responsible for his many sins. Smiting upon his breast, he prayed, "O God, have compassion on me, the sinner!"

What was God's answer? "This man went down to his house justified rather than the other ." Notice, he was not justified "more than the other," for there is no such thing as degrees of justification. One is either justified or condemned. The tax-collector was justified fully; but unless the Pharisee would change his prayer, he could expect only condemnation.

Leslie M. Grant