Bible Study series: Luke 12:1-3. Hypocrites will be exposed. “There is nothing that has been hidden away that will not be revealed, and concealed that will not be known.”
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 12:1-3
1 While a crowd of thousands were gathering with the result that they trampled on each other, he began to say to his disciples, first, “Watch out for yeast, which is the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. 2 There is nothing that has been hidden away that will not be revealed, and concealed that will not be known, 3 because whatever you have spoken in darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in storerooms will be proclaimed on the rooftops.” (Luke 12:1-3)
Comments:
1:
“disciples”:
“first”: this chapter includes all sorts of kingdom teaching. Here is the first item.
“yeast”: In Luke 13:20-21 yeast is a simile (like) for the kingdom of God. In Matt. 16:12, it means the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. So its meaning was variable, depending on the context. Now what does it mean here? The yeast or leaven of the Pharisees = hypocrisy. It can infect people. Why does it mean hypocrisy here?
During the Passover memorial and the feast of Unleavened Bread, which directly followed the Passover, the Jewish home and the entire territory were supposed to swept clean of yeast (Exod. 12:14-20; 13:3-10). The absence of yeast signified that had no time to wait for the bread to rise because the people were to depart in a hurry. They mixed flour and water and oil to make the dough, baked it on a hot rock or in a clay oven, and then ate in a hurry (Exod. 12:39). In fact, when they ate the Passover, they were supposed to wear their traveling clothes (Exod. 12:11).
So here’s why yeast = hypocrisy in this context. The Pharisees had secret places in their lives where they disobeyed the strictures of the law. They never entirely swept clean their own inner lives of their secret flaws. They still had yeast hidden in their house, in their storerooms, down in the cellars, the darkest rooms of their souls. Further, the Pharisees were so blind that they could not even detect the yeast in their dank storerooms. It is one thing to have secret sins but refusing to acknowledge them compounds the problem.
Further, the absence of yeast and eating in haste at the Passover and Unleavened Bread means that we must not mess around with peripheral things, like clothing and material possessions, but we must be in a hurry to follow Jesus without encumbrances. In his original context, he was firmly resolved to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), where he would die. The first disciples could not allow themselves to be weighted down with the care of this world—and the original disciples included women too (Luke 8:2-3 and 23:27, 49, 55-56; 24:1-10). Today we cannot afford to be distracted with silly things.
“hypocrisy”: our word hypocrisy comes directly from Greek: hypokrisis (pronounced hoo-poh-kree-seess), and it means “pretense, outward show.” The Pharisees made an outward show of righteousness but evidently refused to acknowledge their secret sins or hidden yeast in their dark storerooms. We need to get our yeast or secret sin out of our lives, but is complete eradication of secret sins possible in real life? No, not in my view, but let’s acknowledge and admit to them and then at least we won’t be hypocrites and put on a big show of our outward righteousness, while we are inward sinners. At least we will be honest Christians or followers of Jesus. We will tell the truth about ourselves before we speak the truth to others.
See my posts about sanctification (process or act of being made holy), beginning with Bible basics:
Word Study on Holiness and Sanctification
“Pharisees”: You can learn more about them at this post:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
This group, among others, were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (Garland, p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). Overdoing righteousness, believe it or not, can damage one’s relationship with God and others.
2-3:
Now with that background information about yeast and other things, these verses are clear. Jesus states that things that are hidden away in storerooms or cellars or secret rooms will be brought out in the light. What you whisper (literally “speak in the ears”) in storerooms will be announced on the rooftops. The secret sins that will come to light the most clearly is that the Jerusalem establishment will crucify its Messiah. They were hiding malice and evil and murder in their hearts.
You have hidden yeast in the secret rooms and have not swept your life clean. “Hey, this disciple has yeast hidden in the secret places! He hasn’t swept his house clean as the law demands! He has secret sins that he refuses to acknowledge and bring to the light, yet he lords it over us!” It is better to bring all your sins to God in his throne room and confess them to him. If you need an accountability group, find one.
The passive verbs indicate the divine passive, which is an understated way of saying that God is the one who makes the secret things public.
“known”:
GrowApp for Luke 12:1-3
1. How has God swept away sins in your life?
2. Study Jas. 5:16. Do you have secret sins (“yeast”) to confess to a trusted friend or an accountability group? How would this help you? If you have done this, share your story as openly or discreetly as you wish.
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3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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