How the Tax Collector Received Mercy

Jesus says that this parable is for people who are confident of their own righteousness. The kind of righteousness you need is not a kind ofrighteousness that you find in yourself. It has to come from outside the walls of this world. And so the question is, well, how did the tax collector know that he could have it? You see, he humbled himself and prayed to God for mercy. That's how you know that you can have mercy because Jesus humbled himself died for you to give you mercy.