9 And He also said this parable to some people who had trusted in themselves that they were righteous and disdained the rest.
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing, was praying these things to himself, “God, I give thanks to you that I am not like the rest of the men, robbers, unjust people, adulterers or even as this tax collector.
12 I fast two days (in) a week; I tithe my whole income.”
13 But the tax collector, having stood from afar, was not willing to even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he kept on beating his chest, saying, “God, be propitiated in regard to me, the sinner.”
14 I say to you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other because every one who lifts up himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be lifted up.
(Directly translated from the Greek text)

1.  Literary Context of Luke 18:9-14
1.1  General Theme:  Status Reversal

The general theme of the third gospel, Luke, is status reversal, an overturn of what appeared to be good and bad.  Example:

10:29-37 (good Samaritan / bad priest)

Samaritan: the race that the Jews despised, and,

and considered as their enemy – supposed to be bad.

Priest and Levite: being fellow Jews -- supposed to be good.

But in Jesus’ parable, it turns out that the Samaritan was the one helping the victim that was robbed, a Jew whereas the priest and Levite totally ignore their Jewish brother.

This is what we called status reversal, the Samaritan, the supposedly bad one turns out to be good, whereas the priest and the Levite that are supposedly good turns out to be bad.

 You see the same thing in many more examples throughout Luke:

10:38-42 – inactive Mary is good but active Martha is bad

15:11-32 – good prodigal younger brother / bad elder brother

16:19-31 – good Lazarus / bad rich man

1.2  Specific Theme:

1.Jesus, as recorded by Luke, constantly contrasted the self-righteous Pharisees with the repentant sinners.

2.relationship with God can only be developed with true awareness of one’s sin, a contrite spirit and a repentant heart.

This theme of how salvation is opened to repentant sinners is established consistently,

beginning with the call of Levi in Luke 5:27-32,

the sinful woman forgiven in 7:36-50,

the parable of the prodigal son in 15:11-32,

the tax collector in our passage, 18:9-14, and,

the conversion of Zacchaeus in 19:1-10

2.  Background:What prompted the parable? (18:9)

As you can see in Luke18:9 there are people around Jesus that considered themselves superior to others in terms of their righteousness.

They disdained others whom they considered unrighteous.

However, their confidence was in themselves, and in merit of their own work, rather than God.

That prompted our Lord Jesus gave a parable to teach about this.

3.  The Parable as told by Lord Jesus (18:10-13)

3.1   Introduction of the two characters (18:10)

Here the two main characters of the parable are introduced –

a Pharisee and a tax collector. 

Pharisees: the ones that followed “a strict regimen of laws pertaining to purity, Sabbath observance, prayer and tithing.”          -- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The sinners, on the other hand, is the group that are either immoral and/or having a despised vocation. 

Within the context of 18:9-14, we do not know if the tax collector is immoral, but a tax collector is definitely a despised vocation.

You see, the tax collectors are Jews that works for the Roman, who oppresses the Jews.  So, the tax collectors are hated as traitors to the Jewish nation and to religion.  Besides, they usually taxed the people more money than what they actually passed on to the Romans, making themselves rich by exploiting the people.

 Now the stage is set with these two characters met in the temple “and thus in the presence of God”.

4.  Theological Principle to be learned
God justifies and honors those who acknowledge their sins with contrition, rather than those who are righteous in their own eyes with pride in their outward performance for God.

5.     Application

a) Guard ourselves against pride in our achievement, especially our spiritual achievement and our ministry in church.

b) We are saved unto good work, not by our good work.

c) Be comforted that if we have a truly repentant heart, God will forgive us of our sins (1 John 1:9) and we can always be restored to Him just like the tax collector.

d)    Repentance accepted by God is always twofold:

i. recognition of one’s sinfulness, and,

ii. the real action of forsaking one’s sinful act / behavior.

e) Sharp awareness of one’s sin and the contrition ensued = the prerequisite to utter devotion for Christ. (Farrar, 332)   (cf: 7:36-50)

Conclusion
- Do you love God?
- Do you want to love God?
- Ask God to give you a keen awareness of your sin.  Pray the prayer in Psalm 139:23-24
- Then repent and receive God’s forgiveness, knowing that HE will cast your sin away.