That horrible spectacle is made a picture of the living Pharisee, the secret hypocrite. He moves among the people, and his various efforts to conceal his inner being are very successful, but not to God. His whole demeanour is a masquerade, and it manages to convince many that he is a likeable man, a humble man, a pious man, a sincere man, a man who cares about other people. Hypocrisy is so terrible because of its power to produce self-deception. The man ends up believing his own story about himself. Everyone else believes it; why shouldn’t he believe it? You can be very close to a grave and not know it is there. The revolting reality about what is in it does not dawn on you. Likewise, you can be very close to a hypocrite, and know realise the true nature of the man or woman. Human charity requires that you do not draw the worst of conclusions about them. Many a hypocrite will have to wait until Christ unmasks him on the Day of Judgment, before he is really known. If we could really see into each other’s’ heart, the world would become a place of horror far worse than it seems at present. The self-righteous person is selfish, possessive, domineering, strongly inclined to feel superior. The true standard of righteousness is altogether different.