First of all, hypocrisy is indefensible. Jesus criticized hypocrites, he didn’t criticize sinners. But we’re all hypocrites in one sense. We don’t live up to our ideals.

However, some ways of dealing with our hypocrisy are better than others. One way is to stop claiming to believe what we don’t practice. As in, I ain’t no hypocrite, I know I’m a sinner.

But something’s lacking there. The other way of dealing with our hypocrisy, much harder, is to stop practicing what we claim we don’t believe. Until I can do that, I’d rather be a hypocrite.

The truth is hot and hard to touch. Unless it has lost its power, it will sometimes hurt you. The truth is salt and you have wounds. Unless it has lost its savor, it will sometimes hurt you. You can avoid this pain at the cost of your soul, but not forever.

It only takes a minute to form a tradition. Otherwise, we would have to face ourselves or our Master more directly. A tradition is like a callous, in that sense. As a callous makes it harder to feel, a tradition makes it harder to hear. You don’t need to hear or obey God if he no longer needs to speak. Then you can replace his word with your own ideas. The drive constantly pulls on us to control our own consciences and lives instead of letting God do it. Like the Pharisees, we have already acquired our own reward, and there is nothing left for Jesus to give us. For we believe we are some variety of saint, and he only came for sinners.