NOTES: 1] Both stories, about praying persistently, & pride / humility, are also about the nature of God. 2] Being 'justified' means, in short, to be brought into a right relationship with God. This comes about solely & uniquely by God's grace. 3] An ancient prayer of the Eastern Church (the 'Jesus Prayer') still much used is: " Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me (a sinner)".

WARMING UP: What are we most persistent about / at? Where are we on the pride / humility see-saw?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened since last week's group?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

1-8       Do we ever feel guilty about 'bothering' God with our prayers? How available do we see God as being? Is it God or us who's more concerned about  'keeping office hours'? Is prayer more a matter of convincing, persuading, cajoling, God of some need we have, or pounding heaven's gates with a battering ram? Do we use one of these approaches more than others, or a combination? How are we to assess whether what we're on about is important to God or not? Might something important to us not be important to God, or vice versa? Is justice often a factor in our praying? What do we need to do to ensure the justice we need is the justice we get? Does the fact that that justice might be out of our control make it out of God's control, too?
Are we ever in danger of knocking on God's door so much that we can't hear God knocking on ours?

Do we ever sense we may be wearying God with our praying about one particular issue? Or, a litany of issues? Does the unjust judge of the story have anything in common with God, or God have anything in common with the judge? How much does whether we receive justice from God depend upon our being his 'chosen ones'? What about when people who appear to be 'chosen ones' don't seem to receive justice? What is a 'chosen one' anyway?

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? How are we to understand this 'when he comes'?

9-14    If we were to choose contrasting figures to replace "Pharisee' & 'tax collector' for today's hearers, who might they be, & why might we choose them? Is our very choice likely to 'damn' us? Is thinking, "I'm not like other people" something we ever do? Or are tempted to do? What makes us like or unlike others? If we were to recite before God a list of 'what we do for the church', would the very existence of such a list mean we've already 'blown it'? Do we ever fall into the trap of a Sunday School teacher who ended a lesson on this story with, "Children, let us now pray to God that we won't be like this Pharisee"? Would having the self-confessed sinner's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner", in our hearts & on our lips all the time be a way of avoiding such pitfalls, or would living & praying like that simply be an over-reaction, an overkill?
           What's the difference between being 'justified', 'self-righteous', or 'self-satisfied'? In a society where people are actively taught to 'exalt' themselves, does being humble stand any real chance? Chance of what?