Hope for the Non-Religious

⁹Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ ¹³The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’ ¹⁴I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵Now people were even bringing their babies to him for him to touch. But when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them. ¹⁶But Jesus called for the children, saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”