Why was the tax collector's prayer better than the Pharisee's prayer? Because the tax collector actually made a connection with God, but the Pharisee only made a connection with himself.

Tax collectors were despised by the Jewish community in Palestine. They were Jews who collaborated with the occupying Roman forces by collecting taxes from fellow Jews. They often collected more than the law required, pocketing the extra.

The Pharisees were just the opposite. They were the most respected members of the Jewish community, the elite, the undisputed religious leaders of the nation.

And yet, Jesus praises the tax collector's prayer and criticizes the Pharisee's prayer. Through the centuries, in fact, the tax collector's simple prayer, "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner," has been taken up as a complete summary of Christian spirituality. There are even cases of monks who made this prayer the only words that they spoke, and reached heights of sanctity by means of it. 

This prayer makes a connection with God because it recognizes two things. First, it acknowledges God's greatest quality in relation to fallen mankind, his mercy. The word "mercy" comes from the Latin "misericors [mih-SAIR-rih-cores]: miser (wretched, miserable) + cor (heart)". Literally, it means to take someone else's wretchedness into one's heart. That's what God does with us. 

Second, the tax collector's prayer recognizes his need for that mercy. He accuses himself of being a sinner, someone who has selfishly abused God's gifts and used instead of loved his neighbor. The Pharisee's prayer shows no knowledge either of God's mercy or of his need for God; rather, it is an exercise in narcissism, in self-admiration.

God wants to connect with us, but he can only do so if we let him, and we can't let him if we don't think we need him.

In 1945, the Christian author C.S. Lewis (most famous for his popular children's books, "The Chronicles of Narnia") published a fascinating and disturbing novel called, "The Great Divorce." It tells the story of a middle class Englishman who has a dream. In this dream, he travels first to Hell, which is depicted as a boring, grey, and unpleasant suburb where the neighbors are always gossiping. 

Then he gets on a bus that drops him off on the outskirts of Heaven, which is depicted as a beautiful countryside with a gigantic, magnificent castle way off in the distance. When he gets off the bus, he is met by a guide, who explains the place and the meaning of the journey. While they talk, they see many different people, and the guide explains who they are. 

At one point, they see a queen and her entourage. The queen herself is ravishingly beautiful. Her face glows, her movements are as graceful as a deer's, her smile is as bright as snowflakes in the sun. She is surrounded by a crowd of admirers, each one overflowing with joy and health, dressed in finery and filling the air with laughter and song. The group is heading towards the distant castle. 

The narrator thinking that she must have been a famous prime minister or empress. But his guide explains that on earth she was actually a very poor, very poorly educated, and quite plain-looking maid. She spent her life scrubbing floors and washing dishes, serving everyone around her, with never a moment to herself. However. through all those years, she stayed close to God in prayer, and she always looked for ways to help ease the sufferings of those around her. Like the tax collector, she accepted her humble condition, acknowledged her need for God, and trusted that in His mercy He would take care of her, and He did. She humbled herself, and, as Jesus promised, she was therefore exalted.

Today's Gospel passage is actually the second time in Luke's Gospel that Jesus says, "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

He must really want us to get that message. But it is not an easy message to get.

The Pharisee in Jesus' parable thought he was doing great. Everyone else thought so too. He went to the Synagogue every Saturday. He prayed his prayers. He didn't commit any big, scandalous sins. He really thought he was on track for a gold medal from God. However, he wasn't. In fact, he was heading in the completely wrong direction. 

It is easy to be blinded by spiritual sins like arrogance and vanity. The tax collector's sins were more obvious, easier to recognize. He cheated and extorted and bribed. Those were sins you could see. 

But how can we recognize the sins we can't see? Christ's parable tells us exactly how: by looking at our thoughts about other people. Every person in the world is loved by God. Jesus died to offer salvation to every single person. His love and his mercy have no limits.

As Christians, we are called to the same universal respect and love – even for the people who get on my nerves, let me down, or who make my life miserable. If we look into our hearts and discover that we don't have that universal respect, that we entertain vindictive, self-righteous thoughts, and if we look at our actions and discover that we play favorites, that we take pleasure in criticizing others, if we see that – thanks be to God! Because then we will know that we haven't been blinded yet, and so we'll be able to pray like the tax collector, aware of our need for God's mercy, and confident that his mercy will never run out.