Charles Spurgeon Commentary Luke 18:9-10

"And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican." — Luke 18:9-10 (ASV)

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray;

They were both alike in going up to the temple, but they were very different in coming back from the temple. It is a very important thing to come to the house of God in a right state of heart; and it is a still better thing to go away from the Lord's house really benefited and improved. These two men went up to the temple with the same object; each of them went there "to pray." Both intended to pray, though they did not both do so; yet that was their ostensible object.