Jesus’ account of the Pharisee & Tax Collector from Luke 18:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Can we infer from Jesus’ story that behavior does not matter, that there is no moral difference between a disciplined legalist and a robber, evildoer, and adulterer. Of course not. Behavior matters in many ways; it simply is not how to get accepted by God.
The skeptic A. N. Wilson comments on Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, “It is a shocking, morally anarchic story. All that matters in the story appears to be God’s capacity to forgive.”
Precisely.
–Philip Yancey
Isn’t it good to know that no matter our errors, mistakes, poor choices, and sin… God’s grace and forgiveness are big enough to take care of them?