Murals (2008) by PHANTAST - Graffiti - Cultural Music & Art Association inc. - 98 Milne St. Benleigh
The Grace upon the thief : The Pharisee and a tax collector.
A Revolution of Grace (Luke 18:9).
In the story of a pious Pharisee and a remorseful tax collector we see the gospel of grace in a nutshell.
The Pharisee, who fasted twice a week and tithed on shedule, piously thanked God that he was above robbers, evildoers and adulterers - and far above the tax collector standing to the side.
The tax collector, too humiliated even to raise his eyes to heavens, prayed the simplest prayer possible, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner".
- Jesus :"I tell you, the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home!"
- The skeptic A.N.Wilson, in his book "Jesus", comments : "It is a shocking, morraly anarchic story.
All that matters in the story appears to be God's capacity to forgive".
- Precisely!