Summary: Jesus teaches that genuine humility, not self-righteousness, leads to justification before God, as shown through a parable contrasting a Pharisee and a repentant tax collector.
Gospel Acclamation: God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, and entrusting to us the message of salvation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”