Two Prayers, One Rejected & One Accepted

In this chapter, Jesus discusses 2 parables associated with prayer. The first was about a persistent widow & the message was, according to verse 1, “men ought always to pray, & not to faint.” Immediately on the heels of that teaching, Jesus gives another parable about a Pharisee & a Tax Collector who went up to the temple to pray. The clear message of this story is that repentant, humble faith is what GOD accepts in exchange for salvation (justification) & that proud, unrepentant, self-trust will leave you in your sins, alienated from GOD, & headed for eternal damnation.