He loved to play the victim, in an odd sort of way. Curiously, that s a sort of denial. He s got the same spiritual issues of the meaning and fairness of life, but in order to feel better about himself he stigmatizes others. The immature Pharisee put his faith in the false front of religious respectability and achievement. The spiritually alive tax collector simply acknowledged what he was, and, according to Jesus, he went home poised to grow.
Maturity is a spiritual issue because spiritual truth is almost always paradoxical.
To be spiritually mature is to be humble. That s what is almost always heard when we read, Blessed are the meek. And then there is the further paradox. Maturity means remaining open to at least some of what the Pharisee saw. The divide between tradition and experience, or religion and spirituality, is false.