Please Don’t Walk On The Water

A popular cartoonist colorfully illustrated a large seminary campus complete with impressive buildings, beautiful landscaping, and a large pond. At the water’s edge is a sign which reads:

PLEASE DON’T WALK ON THE WATER

Today’s Gospel Lesson is a parable in which Jesus tells the story of two men — a pharisee and a tax-collector — who go into the Temple to pray. Says the pharisee (who is an “I can walk on Water” religious type), “I thank You, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get” (Lk. 18:11). He doesn’t even acknowledge committing a little tiny sin. The tax-collector (a gangster-type) beats his breast and says, “God be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk. 18:13). After telling the story, Jesus says, “This man I tell you (referring to the tax-collector) went home at rights with God;…