Perhaps with an eye to the thinking and practice of his times the writer of the First Reading stresses that God is impartial in his judgements on people. He treats rich and poor, strong and weak, strictly according to the goodness or badness of their actions. Hence it can be said that God is impartial. The writer, however, does seem to feel it necessary to stress that God hears the cries of the weak and defenceless. This could be due to a prevailing cultural atmosphere in which, as a matter of fact, the powerful are unchallenged and the unchallengable have all the advantages.

The writer of the Psalm, though, is far less cautious. He has no doubt at all that God loves in a special way those who are lowly, broken hearted and crushed in spirit. He doesn't seem to need to qualify or explain his belief.

The word "lowly" is very important. It occurs in the First Reading the Psalm and the Gospel. The tax collector's prayer was heard because it was a lowly prayer. The tax collector did not have a high opinion of himself. We too must recognise that we are lowly, sinful and dependent on God for our goodness lest, like the Pharisee we rule out the possibility of receiving God's essential help.