Luke 18:6-14: in context

Jesus tells a parable to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee, stood and prayed about himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector; I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I get. The other, a tax collector, stood at a distance, would not even lift his eyes, but beat his chest and prayed, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus says it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified.

The two men in the parable represent two ways of standing before God, and the reversal Jesus pronounces is startling. The Pharisee was, by outward measure, the righteous one: he fasted, he tithed, he kept the law. And his prayer was full of himself and his own goodness, thanking God that he was not like others, especially not like the tax collector he despised. The tax collector, by outward measure, was the sinner: his profession was corrupt, his life marked by wrong. And his prayer was a plea for mercy: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus declares that it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified, right with God. The self-righteous one, confident of his own goodness and contemptuous of others, was not justified; the humble one, who simply asked for mercy, was. This exposes the danger of self-righteousness, which is subtle because it can coexist with genuine good works. The Pharisee's fasting and tithing were real; his fault was not in doing them but in trusting them, in being confident of his own righteousness and despising others. He came to God not as a sinner needing mercy but as a righteous man presenting his credentials, and looked down on those he considered beneath him. This is a spiritual danger for the outwardly good, the religiously observant, the morally upright: to trust in our own righteousness, to be confident of our goodness, and to despise others we consider worse. And it does not justify; God opposes the proud. The tax collector, by contrast, came with nothing to present but his need, no righteousness to trust, only a plea for mercy. And he was justified, because God gives grace to the humble. A broken and contrite heart, the psalmist says, God will not despise. This searches how we come before God. Do we come, like the Pharisee, confident of our own righteousness, trusting our good works, perhaps despising others we consider worse? Or do we come, like the tax collector, humbly acknowledging our need for mercy, with no righteousness to present but only a plea? Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, Jesus says, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. God justifies not the self-righteous but the humble who plead for mercy; and the way to come before him is not the Pharisee's confident presentation of our goodness, but the tax collector's humble cry, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

When I come before God, do I come like the Pharisee, confident of my own righteousness, trusting my good works and perhaps despising others I consider worse, or like the tax collector, humbly acknowledging my need for mercy with no righteousness to present but only a plea, and can Jesus' word that it was the humble tax collector, not the self-righteous Pharisee, who went home justified move me to come before God not confident of my goodness but crying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner?