Unvarnished Jesus: A Lenten JourneyMuestra

Friday, March 22

Luke 18:9–14

Jesus Gives the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Most of us are predisposed to divide the world into good people and bad people, the righteous and the unrighteous. But Jesus rarely does this. For Jesus, the most dominant categories are the proud and the humble. We’re all sinners. The question is, are we proud sinners or humble sinners? If we’re proud sinners, we concoct ways to justify ourselves in our own eyes by favorably comparing ourselves to those whom we deem worse than us. But if we are humble sinners, we throw ourselves entirely on the mercy of God. Jesus advises the way of humility. Today let’s try to employ the ancient Christian practice of repeatedly praying the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.