LOLOLOL!!!!
Her thought was that the RC church has undoubtedly pursued almost every relationship possible by now ~ so there should be something good there.
Putting my mind to the wheel of life I've come up with one relationship that may not be popular but maybe someone did delivery a lesson about it ~ but what if the Pharisee, on some level, was correct. Sure, he has an elevated idea of where he stands in society, and certainly compared to a tax collector most folks of his day would have probably pointed him out to their children as a GOOD MODEL FOR YOU!
But the tax collector? Look, let me tell you, after several decades of writing rules to lash the backs of the paying public, and getting myself involved in collecting large dollar value bills owed to an agency of the United State government, I have no illusions that my occupation was thought of as valuable by any but the cops and the lawyers!
I read that parable differently than just about anybody ~ except tax collectors and cops and lawyers (particularly the criminal defense bar) and others who collect bills.
It's special to us. No doubt some think that taxman ought to be the model for our patron saint ~ yet, the pharisee is even the guy that we, too, like everybody else, would point to as a MODEL CITIZEN.
Think of how wonderful it would be to wake up every day and BE POPULAR and not DISTRESSED, or even DEPRESSED about "what would people think if they knew what I had to do today".
Ever put a company out of business ~ see their people driven into the streets ~ babies crying for their mothers ~ dogs howling at the Moon in vain?
Yes, the taxman and the bill collector are necessary to the functioning of society, particularly when large amounts of money and property are involved, but are they sinners?
No, in my mind I believe I'm clean shaven like the Pharisee, with a well cared for suit, and shined shoes. Yet, I know what that tax collector is thinking as he raises his hairy arms in the air to beat on his hairy chest, ...... but it's not his personal sin that he's asking the Lord to ignore ~ he is doing the work that ties together society itself, and he, if not everyone else, knows what it takes ~ the wetwork (in his day), the legal rigamorele (in our day), turning people into nothing but ciphers ~ the sort of things that Pharisee would never be seen doing ~ and he knows that HE is the person sacrificed for the good of everyone, and HE sees the Lord with all his being ~ which is why He knows he can call out to the Lord and be answered ~ because He knows that he needs to do that every day ~
The poor, hapless Pharisee is blind to the brutal reality, but that doesn't make him a good man ~ just someone who probably doesn't need as much mercy.