Luke 18:9-14 - Justified by God

Imagine the scene: Jesus is on His final journey to Jerusalem, knowing once there He will be crucified. Yet as He travels He takes the time to stop and to teach. To give instruction, on how to be justified before God. He knows the Pharisees are out to get Him, yet He shares a parable that speaks directly to them.

I wonder, today are we like the Pharisees or the tax collector? We like to think we are nothing like the Pharisees, but in reality, are we more like them than we care to admit?

On the outside, we look like 'good' and 'respectable' Christians. We say all the right things, we read our Bibles and we say our prayers But what is going on in the inside? Are we silently judging others, thinking thoughts we wouldn't be comfortable saying out loud, passing comment when no comment is required, or getting angry when we've been slighted or overlooked.

Or are we like the tax collector, who knows his sin and instead of trying to hide it, is authentic and transparent, is vulnerable, and before God and others, humbled himself and asked for mercy? As we look to the cross this Easter, do we need to humble ourselves?