a sinner (v. 7). Tax collectors, because they were traitors to the community who collaborated with the Romans, had been “put out of the church.” He was no longer to be counted a member of the covenant community. But Jesus thinks otherwise; He calls Him a true son of Abraham. That is to say, he was one who was saved, and whose heart was circumcised (v. 9). Things are not always what they seem on the surface. The religious leaders would proclaim that the rich young ruler was a fine, upstanding child