The Pharisee & the Tax Collector

Discussion Questions:

1. Which of these characters in Jesus’ parable are you most like?
2. In what ways do you still “trust in yourself that you are righteous”? What are the things in your life that make you feel ok about yourself? Have any of these things become a righteousness?
3. Luke says that those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, treat others with contempt? What is the connection between those two things? Who really gets under your skin? Why do they get under your skin?
4. Why is the tax collector, not the Pharisee, the one who goes home justified? What does “justified” mean? What about the Gospel makes it this way?
5. Discuss the phrase: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). Give examples from your own life that support the truth of that statement.