Luke 12:1-3 1At that time, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together so that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware for yourselves about the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2And nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3Therefore, whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
This chapter opens with events that were happening at the same time as the dinner at the Pharisee’s house. Large crowds gave a different response to Jesus than the scribes and Pharisees from the earlier passage. The next section is closely linked with the previous episode. Luke intensifies the number of people by giving the number of thousands (we get the English “myriads” from the Greek myriadōn). The large crowds can be compared to the few people who opposed Jesus. Jesus had a great opportunity to make a big impact on the people at that point, but he chose to focus on the small group of his disciples. This moment was another teaching opportunity.
The focus of Jesus’ warning to his disciples was about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They needed to be on guard and alert and not let the nice sounding and looking pious Pharisees fool them about true religion and what pleases God. Hypocrisy is like a yeast that spreads. It becomes a competition to see who can look for religious than others. The yeast of the Pharisees is like a poison that leeches through everything and ruins it. The Pharisees had a lot of influence in the Jewish culture of that time. People highly regarded them and looked to them for the definition of piety. Jesus had described the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in the earlier passage of 11:37-54.
Proverbial statement in verse 2 pronounces judgment upon the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. They think they could cover over their darkened and calloused hearts with a mask of piety, but they could not hide from God. God sees all and perceives the thoughts of people (Psalm 44:21). This idea is further illustrated in another proverb in verse 3. Since verse 2 is true, verse 3 will also be true. The negative of verse 2 is answered by the positive of verse 3. Because God sees all, he cares for the disciples and sees their struggles, especially problems caused from persecutors. The disciples’ efforts, though seemingly small, will have a big impact and be heard by people. Do not let hypocrisy seep out to be a poison to others but let the good news of the kingdom be spoken in the dark and in quiet places and it will continue to leach out to the world.
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