Luke 18: 9-14 18: 9
To some who believed themselves righteous and despised others, he also told this parable: 18:10 Two men went up to the sanctuary to pray: one was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 18:11 The wrong man prayed to himself while standing: Jesus, I thank you that I am not like everyone else, greedy, unjust, adulterous, not even like this tax collector; 18:12 Fasting twice a week, I tithe what I earn. 18:13 But the tax collector, who was far away, would not raise his eyes to heaven, but struck him on the chest and said, Almighty, be a sinner who is favorable to me. 18:14 I tell you that this one went down to his house, showing himself behind the other; for he who exalts himself is humbled; and whoever humbles himself is honored.
Reflection:
The center of the parable revolves around those who believed themselves righteous by their works before God and despised others. Christ came into the world to call sinners to repentance, not “righteous”, but those who considered themselves “righteous” trusted in themselves, boasted of the outward fulfillment of the Mosaic Law, as our Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 23: 28. “So you also on the outside, indeed, appear righteous to men, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” El Salvador did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it; by faith in Christ Jesus we are justified and touched by the power of the Holy Spirit to do what pleases God, the law would be in mind and heart, by the new covenant in his blood.
The parable tells that two men pray in the temple, one of them a Pharisee, who is part of a Jewish religious group from the time of Jesus, who boasted in their prayer of what they did, but at the same time they were different. and he despised a tax collector, who was a tax collector, much rejected by the Jews, considering them treacherous to their people, since some were also Jews; as is the case of Matthew (Levi), author of the first gospel. But this tax collector did not exalt himself for the things he had done, but asked God for mercy with a humble heart. Jesus Christ told those who heard his teaching that the tax collector came down to his house justified; for he who exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
God wants us to understand that when we come to Him, we must go with a contrite and humble heart, that is why the first beatitude of Matthew 5 refers to the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven, if we say that we see, we are truly blind. Jesus told the Pharisees in John 9:41, “Jesus answered them: If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now, because you say: we see, your sin remains, “that’s why when we go before God.”
Not coming to Jesus Christ through faith and repentance makes life a slave to the carnal desires that fight in the soul. Christ came to bring light in the midst of darkness, if w