a koan from the wisdom teacher, Jesus
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The apparent point of Jesus little story about the prayer postures of two individuals is cast against a cultural context whereby the Pharisees were the group that were the respected ‘church’ people, approved by all their peers, as those who took the Law seriously and sought to follow God with sincerity, and the tax collectors , who were the ‘scum of the w