NARRATOR: To some who were confident of their own self-worth but considered everyone else worthless Jesus told this parable.
JESUS: Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed these things concerning himself—
PHARISEE: I give you thanks, O God, that I am not like other people—greedy, unjust, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes on all that I own.
JESUS: The tax collector, standing far off, did not raise his eyes toward heaven. He beat his breast.
TAX COLLECTOR: O God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am.
JESUS: I say to you, this man rather than the first went down to his house worthy in God’s sight. All who make little of themselves will be lifted up, but all who make much of themselves will be brought down.
Luke 18.9-14
Sunday Readings: Sirach 35.12-14,16-18; 2 Timothy 4.6-8,16-18; Luke 18.9-14
