Read Luke 18:9-14 with your family.

The Gospel of Luke doesn’t like Pharisees very much. The writer thought them too full of themselves and too focused on the rules. Jesus, on the other hand, showed people that rules were not very important. The important thing was how we live.

Today’s reading from Luke shows Jesus telling a story about two men, a Pharisee who believed he was doing everything that God wanted and as a result thought he was better than anyone else, and a tax collector who knew he wasn’t showing God’s love and honesty to the world and as a result thought he was worse than anyone else.

Jesus knew both men were loved by God and that was enough, but the men didn’t realize that. Jesus didn’t tell his disciples one was better than the other, just that when we think too much of ourselves, we are not the people God wants us to be. However, when we come to God showing we are ready to serve God knowing we do things we shouldn’t and have to improve ourselves, that attitude will be recognized by God.