"He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector." (from Luke 18 9-14 ) This very familiar parable is not about the good guy and the bad guy. It's based on the center of Jesus' teachings, The Great Commandment: "You shall love the Lord you God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." (Lk. 10:27) To understand this, let's be clear about Pharisees. They were a Jewish resistance movement emphasizing obedience to the law of Moses in order to make God’s benefits visible and accessible for all who were Jewish. Pharisees lived meagerly and shunned excess and so were not legalistic, rigid, and elitist. Instead, they paid attention to the oral tradition interpreting the spirit of the Torah, so they played an essential role in ensur...