Jonathan Sacks tells this classic Jewish story of a learned rabbi and a taxi driver who depart this world at the same time and arrive together at the gates of heaven. The angel at the gate signals to the taxi driver to enter, then turns to the rabbi and sadly shakes his head.

What is this? asks the rabbi. I am a learned rabbi and he is only a taxi driver who, not to put too fine a point on it, drove like a lunatic.

Exactly so replies the angel. When you spoke, people slept. But when they got into his taxi, believe me, they prayed.

The parable which Jesus told in todays gospel is about two very different men, who both went to the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee, a leader in his community and a law abiding and obedient Jew. The other man was a tax-collector a man despised and held in low esteem because he made money by collecting taxes for the Roman authorities, an alien power. These taxes were not the sort that paid for schools and hospitals. These taxes paid for the Roman army and the extension of the Roman Empire into new territories. A tax-collector would be seen as working for Gods enemy, as someone who was unfaithful and dishonourable, no wonder the Pharisee thanked God he was not like the tax-collector. Maybe we would do the same.

The Pharisee prays first, standing by himself and proclaiming in a voice that could be heard, God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers

Yet standing far off was the tax collector, who prayed in a low voice and not looking up, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! The Pharisee stands apart because he believes himself to be better than the rest. The tax-collector stands apart because he does not think he is worthy to stand before God or with Gods people.

He could have prayed, Lord, look at the Pharisee standing up there so that everyone can see him praying. He thinks he is better than everyone else. He makes sure to get the seats of honour at banquets and in the synagogue. He gets all bothered about silly rules of his own making, while neglecting the things that really matter. He ought to practise what he preaches. Lord, dont be taken in. Its all an act, its all show.

But, the tax-collector did not say this nor did he confess the sins of others. Instead he simply said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. This is a model for prayer. It is the most moving of prayers. The tax-collector was simply telling the truth. It is easier to confess the sins of others than to say, I am a sinner. Yet this is a pray God can not fail to hear.

Jesus concludes the parable by saying that the second man, the rejected but repentant tax collector, was the one who went home justified, or accepted by God.

I wonder: Why did Jesus tell this parable? Who did he tell it to? Why was a sinner more acceptable than a person who kept the rules and observed all the correct rituals of the Jewish faith?

It seems unlikely that Jesus addressed Pharisees directly; to do so would be offensive and would encourage, in the hearers, an outlook that the parable condemns. Maybe the disciples were in danger of becoming as excluding as the Pharisees. If the Pharisee had his way the tax-collector would not have been allowed into the Temple at all.

Some people believe that sinners should never go to church. They cry hypocrites at those who do. Perhaps they would only allow saints to be admitted. But that would result in a very small church indeed. It would be as if a hospital was only for healthy people, or a school just for the educated. The tax-collector knew his need of Gods mercy. And we come to church not because we are worthy, but because we need to. We come to admit our sinfulness and seek the healing mercy of God and his forgiveness achieved through Christs death on the cross. We come too, for the support of the community. By coming, we show ourselves willing, with the help of God, to strive for something better.

And yet, the Pharisee in Jesus story was not a scoundrel. He was in fact an honest, faithful, family man, and a meticulous observer of the law. He did even more than the law required of him. It required just one fast a year, on the Day of Atonement, but he fasted twice a week. It required tithes on only certain items, but he paid tithes on everything.

I wonder then, where did he go wrong? Jesus does not condemn his paying of tithes or his keeping of the rules. To our ears the prayer of the Pharisee sounds as if he is selling himself to God and advertising how virtuous he is in that he is not grasping, unjust and adulterous. But the prayer was of a standard form for the time. In psalm 119 (65-77) the psalmist says, Teach me good judgements and knowledge for I believe in your commandmentswith my whole heart I keep your preceptsI delight in your law

And in the Lords Prayer there is a similar petition, Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil.

The Pharisee went wrong in his attitude to God, believing he had run up a credit-balance for his deeds, and in his attitude to others. The Pharisee appears arrogant, complacent, someone who despises others and pours scorn on sinners. And in what I find to be the most intriguing statement, he was standing by himself and praying.

Some translations read he prayed with himself which suggests a man who is self satisfied, who is advertising his own good deeds and not really addressing God. And he prayed by himself implies a failure to connect both with God and with others. Despite keeping all the rules and more, he fails to reach God. I wonder: where is each of us standing when we pray? Are we in that roller coaster of a taxi ride through life, praying for and with those we encounter on the journey, or are we keeping ourselves apart in a safe and comfortable environment.

It seems that it is not about the right words, the right kind of prayers or obeying all the right rules. This did not get the Pharisee any closer to God. It did not connect him with God in the way that the tax-collectors prayer did. The tax collector must have realised that living for himself alone had not made him happy. He had come to see himself as he was and to accept the reality of his position and that was the beginning of his transformation. In his new-found humility God could reach him.

It seems that it is about who you pray with and where you stand when you pray.

Jesus is the one we follow, the one on whom we model our behaviour. Jesus does not get up on the cross and offer his life as a sacrifice by himself, standing alone, in holy and pious isolation. His place is between two sinners, two thieves, between two low-lifes that the Pharisee would rightfully despise. And it is from this place that Jesus prays, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Then to one of the thieves, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. You will be with me.

I wonder, where do we stand when we pray? Do we stand alone, separate from the world, holy and undisturbed? Do we notice when those seen as undesirable are crying out for mercy? Should we be striving to pray more with those crying out for mercy in todays world?

At the end of the parable Jesus says, all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted. The road to humility leads to the unclean, the lowly, the thieves and adulterers, to all those people it is easy to despise. It leads to the cross. We can not be humble by standing alone or by using the right words. Humility is something we learn at the foot of the cross.

Looking up we see a humbled and humiliated Jesus. Condemned as a criminal like the two beside him. These are the people Jesus stands with at the end. The people that Jesus invites into paradise.

Our hope is a strange one. That we may find ourselves among those humble and humiliated people to whom Jesus grants mercy and who Jesus invites into paradise. Amen

The Revd Greg Roberts, 24th October, 2010