The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Luke 18: 9-14

Jesus' parable (Luke 18: 9-14) encourages humble prayer.   My contemporary parable describes the postures of the Pharisee and tax collector with a different image.    

...........In contemporary society to discuss the contrast between prideful and humble postures, Jesus might use a different image from that of the Pharisee and tax collector at prayer in the Temple.    Think of the sort of anonymous human behavior described in his parable, the two strangers acting so differently in a public place, the one boastful and contrasting himself to the meeker one.    Where in modern life does this type of contrast so often occur?  Let me suggest:

Two drivers are moving along the highway, the one in a big red Mercedes with the lights on, the other in a small VW.   As a sign of self-earned prosperity the Mercedes driver maneuvers along the crowded highway at high speed in the passing lane. But then the Mercedes is slowed by the VW driver moving at about the speed limit and passing a slower truck or two.   The Mercedes driver tailgates the VW, flashes the lights and finally sounds the horn, all this an arrogant expression of the Mercedes’ superiority.  The VW driver hastens to pass the trucks and moves into the right lane.   

Later down the highway the VW driver will not fail to notice the Mercedes driver stopped and delayed on the shoulder with the flashing lights of the State Police parked at the Mercedes rear bumper.   Passing on 
the VW will deliver its driver at the appointed time for a scheduled meeting.   “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I drive an older car on the highway just about every week or so.    And I am not always so yielding either in thought or action to the tailgaters.  The truly humble driver would always assume an emergency in the car of the tailgater, a baby about to be born, for example......