9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The 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. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
¹³"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.'
¹⁴"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." Luke 18

I would rather be humbled by repentance than by judgement. CB

V9 - To whom was Jesus telling this parable? (To people who thought they were good enough as they were, and did not think other people were as good as they were.)

V10- Who were the two men? What were their jobs? (Pharisee was a religious man who knew all of God's Laws. The tax collector was a regular man who collected taxes for the Roman empire. Tax collectors usually asked for more money than the government required, and kept the extra for themselves.

V11-12 - What did the Pharisee talk about to God? (Himself and how good he thought he was and why, and how bad the tax collector was.) What was the focus of His prayer? (His own self good-ness, not God's character and His need for God) What kind of a relationship did He have with God? Was it based more on his own works, or on what God does?

V13 - What did the tax collector do? Why do you think He did not look up to heaven? (Heaven is where God's throne is, and He did not feel worthy to even gaze up to God.) What did he say? What does that mean? ("Have mercy" means give me pardon for my wrongs, even though I deserve nothing from you. "on me a sinner" is a confession for what he has done against the will of God. The tax collector saw himself through God's eyes, rightly. He saw himself as someone who is not nearly as good as God, and asked for pardon in His Holy Temple. The Pharisee saw himself through men's eyes, which are clouded with selfishness, pride and sin. He saw himself wrongly. While his gaze might go heavenward, his eyes were blind to his own spiritual condition and to the holiness of God.

God tells us,
I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Lev 11:44 Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. Lev 19:12; Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Lev 20:7 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Eph 1:4 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Heb 12:4 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. 1Peter 1:15 To be Holy means to be set apart for God's service and purpose. You must be a clean instrument, or tool, just like a doctor needs clean instruments to use, so you and I need to be clean to be used by God.

V14 - Who did Jesus say went home right before God? (The tax collector) Why do you think this was true? (Because the tax collector was humble before God, not proud and arrogant like the Pharisee who focused on his own activities instead of how he could be made better by God by asking God for mercy and guidance.) What does Jesus say will happen to the Pharisee? (He will be humbled, made low in the eyes of men) What does Jesus say will happen to the tax collector? (He will be exalted in the eyes of men because of what the Lord God will do for him in his own heart and life.) Why do you think Jesus told the people this parable? (See V1.)

I would rather be humbled through repentance than humbled by God's judgement.  CSB