with so obviously good a man as the Pharisee? What can be right about so obviously perverse a person as the publican? The parable functions first of all as the unmasking of unbelief in an unlikely situation. The introduction (v. 9) exposes the problem. The parable is told to those who (a) trusted in themselves that they were righteous (self-assured piety) and (b) despised others (spiritual condescension). Such a stance is described by the conclusion (v. 14) as exalting oneself. This was the plight