And yet it was this tax-collector whom Our Lord contrasted with the Pharisee to the latter’s disadvantage.  Tax-collectors were Jews who collected from their own countrymen the taxes imposed by the Roman occupying power or by King Herod Antipas whom the Romans had appointed.  They were traditionally unpatriotic, collaborators and corrupt.

This tax-collector in the parable has a vastly different attitude from that of the Pharisee.  He is under no illusions as to the state of his soul in God’s sight.  He has no account of virtues and services rendered to parade before his Maker, nor does he seek to excuse his faults by quoting the example of other disreputable persons like himself.

His standard consists, not in comparing himself with others, but in his personal relationship with God, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (NRSV, Luke 18:13).  That attitude is reflected in his whole approach to the all-holy God.  He comes into the Temple in a true spirit of prayer, his eyes on the ground as a sincere expression of his unworthiness even to be in the presence of the Almighty.  He has been brought there by his heartfelt need of God – unlike the Pharisee who was only conscious of his value to God.