The parable of the Pharisee and the publican, or tax collector, has influenced the church's understanding of prayer and the state of the heart in which prayer originates. Luke 18:9–14 provides the only account of this parable, introducing it as being intended for “certain who trusted in themselves and their own righteousness, and despised others.” A Pharisee and a publican went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus concludes that “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

The publican's prayer, slightly altered as “Lord have mercy on me a sinner,” is the basis of the Jesus Prayer, which is the subject of one of the most widely read books of the modern era, the nineteenth- century Russian anonymous novel (or what some believe is a nonfiction biographical account), The Way of the Pilgrim, and also is a focal point in J. D. Salinger's novel, Franny and Zooey. The most common enlarged version of the Jesus Prayer is, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

Also of interest in this short parable is the insight it provides into the spiritual practices of pious first-century Jewish people, such as two days of fasting each week. And Jesus' summation, “he who humbles himself shall be exalted” is considered a keystone of the spiritual life, words to live by as an antidote to the first deadly sin of pride.