Please read the passage before the commentary.
The Pharisee is correct: he has done all these things. His conduct is praiseworthy. The tax collector was also correct: his conduct had been blameworthy.
Yet, both were wrong. None of our goodness qualifies us for heaven, and none of our wickedness qualifies us for hell. It is God’s mercy that qualifies us for heaven, and it is God’s mercy that saves us from hell.
It is not our successes that qualify us for recognition by God, nor are our failures signs of God’s disfavor with us. It is our reliance on self that puts a barrier in place for us.
This story told about St Francis can illustrate this. It is about St Francis and true joy. If all the colleges and universities should be converted to the Lord, and if all the heads of state, monarchs, Presidents and Prime Ministers should be converted to the Lord and establish peace in the world, this is not true joy. But if Francis should arrive in the dead of night, coated with mud and covered in icicles, and shivering to death, and knock on the door and the porter not recognize nim, but rather yell at him, curse him and tell him to get lost, and Francis accept this patiently without being upset: true joy would consist in this.
It is not in the successes that we should find joy. Nor is it joy to suffer humiliation in itself. It is joy to see the work of God in the successes and failures we experience.
In the book of Job, Job struggled to see God’s hand in the evils that threaten to crush Job. When Job somehow saw God’s goodness in his sufferings, Job could accept God’s plan for him.
The Pharisee is correct: he has done good things. His conduct is praiseworthy. The tax collector was also correct: his conduct had been blameworthy. God’s goodness and mercy alone save us sinners.