Jesus tells a parable about two men praying in the Temple and the one who goes home justified is the one who arrived with nothing to offer but his need.
Mar 14, 2026
The Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Today’s Focus
Two men walk into the Temple to pray. One has every credential, exceeds every requirement, and goes home empty. The other has nothing but his own honest need, asks for the kind of mercy only God can give, and goes home justified. The difference is not effort or knowledge or religious practice. It is posture. The Pharisee’s prayer never leaves the room it was built in. The tax collector’s seven words pierce the clouds.
In the Margins
In this passage, Luke actually frames the target audience, so we know who this parable was directed towards. It addresses those “convinced of their own righteousness and despising everyone else.” This is very specific, and this type of person still exists today. It is a pointed rebuke with a named posture. The reader is put on notice immediately to ask whether that description fits them, and the person who heard it would have asked the same question.
This parable sits inside Luke’s Travel Narrative (9:51–19:27), the long journey toward Jerusalem. Luke clusters teachings here on prayer, humility, wealth, and the coming Kingdom. The parable immediately follows the parable of the Unjust Judge (18:1–8), which is about persistence in prayer. The two parables together address not just whether to pray but how to approach God when praying.
Here Jesus describes two people going to pray. One is a Pharisee, a widely respected and committed Jew. A first century audience hearing “a Pharisee went to pray” would expect a story about a good man doing a good thing. The other person is a tax collector (telōnēs, τελώνης). This person occupied the opposite end of the social and moral spectrum. They worked for Rome, against their own people. They were permitted to keep anything above the required amount, which created a structural incentive for extortion. They were considered ritually impure through constant contact with Gentiles, economically exploitative, and socially ostracized. They could not serve as witnesses or judges in Jewish courts. A first century audience hearing “a tax collector went to pray” would not expect a story about a righteous man.
When they were praying, the Pharisee is said to pray about what he is not. He is putting himself on a pedestal and thanking God that he is on such a pedestal. He is doing this to be seen, as the Greek statheis (σταθείς) suggests a deliberate, formal stance. While his practices exceeded what was required of the Law, the problem with it is that he was centering his prayer on him being greater than everyone else. We also are told he prays to himself. His prayers never actually make it to God.
The tax collector on the other hand “stood off at a distance.” We can only assume that he did not deem himself worthy enough to approach the inner courts. He remained in the margins, which reflects both his social reality and a posture of genuine contrition. In Jewish prayer, raising the eyes toward heaven was a normal and accepted posture. His refusal to do so signals his sense of unworthiness to look directly toward God. Striking the chest was a gesture of grief and contrition in both Jewish and Greco-Roman culture. His prayer is a humble ask for mercy. The word used, hilasthēti, is a term drawn from the mercy seat of the Ark. He is not asking for God to be nice, he is asking for an atoning mercy from God. This connects to Sirach 35:12–17, which promises that the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds and that God hears the cry of the poor and lowly. Solomon’s prayer at the Temple’s dedication (1 Kings 8:46–50) asks God to hear the prayers of those who sin and return to him with their whole heart. The tax collector’s seven words are the answer to both.
After the prayers were done, Jesus tells us that the tax collector returned home “justified.” The word used for this is dedikaiōmenos (δεδικαιωμένος) justified or even declared righteous. This is a forensic term from the law court meaning acquitted, declared in right standing. Paul uses this same vocabulary in Romans and Galatians for justification by faith. This type of prayer is the same thing Jesus is telling us to do. In other parts of the Gospel, He teaches us to pray in the inner rooms of our homes. The point here is that we are supposed to hold our love in our hearts and pray from a place of humility, not for show. It does not matter how we look to others, that is not what justifies us. Our own justification comes through God’s grace received in humility and faith. It comes when we pray honestly, humbly, and know that we can only be made right through the mercy and love of Jesus.
Reflection Question
When you pray, are you telling God who you are or asking God for what only he can give?
