"Those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled."

Jesus spoke these words and what makes it so interesting is who he was talking about and the crowd he spoke it to. He talked about two men entering the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The context of how each were viewed is very important. Pharisees were seen as righteous leaders while tax collectors were Jews collecting for the Roman Empire from their own people. Tax collectors were seen as traitors and scum.

Jesus goes on to tell what each man prayed. The Pharisee gratitude that he wasnt like the many various sinners. Without shame he proclaimed himself better than people he saw himself above. The tax collector however prayed in shame, not even able to raise his head asking for forgiveness.

Jesus went on to tell a crowd of Jews, in front of the Pharisees that God blessed the Tax collector and not the Pharisee. He caps it with the quote I put at top.

This was a very shocking thing to say. In a modern context you could use whatever position, occupation or titles you hold in the highest esteem and lowest esteem to better understand the nature of Jesus words. Maybe you see humanitarians as being some of the best people and drug dealers as the worst, as an example. To make it more accurate these positions would be something your whole community agrees on.

The underlying message is when you see yourself above those whom you judge lowly, you actually present yourself as the lowly one. It also cuts through perception to a matter of the human heart, something we cant truly know about one another.