In his "take" on Jesus' story about the self-righteous pharisee and the sorrowful tax-collector, Fr. Allen asserts that Jesus' use of irony is front and central. Irony is a difficult concept so Fr. Allen uses Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic" to illustrate. But Jesus isn't just using irony as a teaching tool he's using it because our very "situation-in-the-world" vis a vis God and righteous living turns on an ironic understanding of what it means to be "justified."
