Luke 18:9-14.
What makes a prayer pleasing to God? The parable presents two people at prayer.
One, a Pharisee, started his prayer with thanksgiving. “God, I thank you that I
am not like other men, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even like
this tax collector.” Wait, this is not a thanksgiving prayer but an act of
shaming others. Isn’t it? “I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.”
Oopps, this is not giving praise to God but to self. According to Jesus, God
did not hear the prayer of the proud Pharisee. The other, a tax-collector, stood
humbly and begged for mercy. “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” The
tax-collector confessed that he is a great sinner and he knew that only God can
justify him. Jesus said that God was pleased by the man’s humility, and He forgave
him.
