We are continuing to get to know Jesus better as we start the new year, and we are doing that over these next few weeks by asking, “What did He teach?” So we will look at a number of His parables. Parables are extended analogies that help us understand a truth. As one author says, they are “stories with intent.” Last week, we looked at the parable of the Prodigal Son. We saw in that parable that there are two kinds of lostness— outright rebellion and so-called righteous living that seeks to put God in our debt. We saw the need to return to God and to rejoice when others return to God. And perhaps most of all, we saw the heart of God. That parable shows us what God is actually like. He is a graciously extravagant Father, who rejoices when lost sinners come home. So that parable shows us in a way how God yearns for us to be right with Him. The parable we are looking at today shows us how that might happen; how we can be made right with God. We will be in Luke 18 looking at the story of the Pharisee and Tax Collector.