The Parables of Jesus | The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector | Luke 18:9-14 | Week 2

We started a series last week called "The Parables of Jesus."  This series is all about the parables of Jesus.  Over the course of the summer, we're going to be studying together these stories that Jesus told.  That's what a parable is.  A parable's a story.  It's two words put together---"para" which means alongside of and "bollo" which means to throw.  It's stories for normal everyday people----they weren't told by the philosophical leaders or taught in the Socratic seminar.  Stories they threw alongside of reality.  The whole goal of a parable was to make people go, "Huh, I never thought of it like that."  I never thought that the kingdom of heaven was sort of like a field where there's both wheat planted in it and weeds.  Hmm, I never saw it like that.  The parables are intended to create some spiritual awakening in our souls.  

The parable that we're going to look at today is found in Luke 18:9-14.  This parable is all about Jesus saying, "I know, I get it."  The way that you look at the world and the way that you see who's on top, the power structures, and what it looks like to get ahead, and what it looks like when you accumulate wealth, and how to be a good and right person.  I get it.  I get it.  There's a way that the world looks, but everything is not as it seems...