In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, so that they stepped one on another, he began to say to his disciples first of all, Beware you of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
an.
Luke 5:1,15 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, …
Luke 6:17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
Acts 21:20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
trode.
2 Kings 7:17 And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
first.
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Beware.
Matthew 16:6-12 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees…
Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
1 Corinthians 5:7,8 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: …
which.
Luke 12:56 Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
Luke 11:44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
Job 20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
Jesus began to speak first to His disciples:
Jesus prioritizes His disciples, indicating the importance of preparing them for their future roles as leaders and teachers. This moment emphasizes the need for the disciples to understand and internalize His teachings before they can effectively share them with others. The focus on the disciples also suggests a distinction between the committed followers of Jesus and the curious crowd. This approach is consistent with Jesus' method of teaching, where He often explained deeper truths to His disciples privately, as seen in other passages like Mark 4:34.
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Leaven, or yeast, is used metaphorically here to represent the pervasive and corrupting influence of the Pharisees' hypocrisy. In biblical times, leaven was often associated with sin and impurity, as seen in the Passover tradition where unleavened bread is used to symbolize purity and separation from sin (Exodus 12:15). The Pharisees were religious leaders known for their strict adherence to the law, but Jesus criticizes them for their outward show of piety that lacks genuine righteousness. This warning serves as a call for the disciples to be vigilant against adopting similar attitudes and behaviors. The concept of hypocrisy is further explored in Matthew 23, where Jesus pronounces woes on the Pharisees for their double standards and lack of true spiritual integrity. This teaching also foreshadows the New Testament emphasis on inner transformation over external compliance, as seen in Romans 12:2.
- Luke links this moment to the immediate clash recorded in Luke 11:37-54, where Jesus denounced the Pharisees for inward corruption.
- Scripture shows an unbroken flow of events; nothing here is incidental (Luke 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Cross references: Luke 11:53-54; John 7:30.
- The Spirit-inspired text underlines sheer numbers—“many thousands”—to stress public interest in Jesus (Luke 5:15; 14:25).
- Popularity never swayed the Lord’s message; truth mattered more than applause (John 2:23-25).
Cross references: Mark 3:7-9; Luke 8:4.
- Physical jostling paints a vivid, literal scene of urgency; people’s hunger for help was intense (Mark 5:24).
- Crowds can become dangerous when curiosity outweighs discernment—an echo of Proverbs 4:26-27.
Cross references: Acts 19:32; Psalm 42:2.
- Though surrounded by thousands, Jesus prioritized those committed to follow Him (Luke 6:20).
- Disciples must grasp truth before they can share it; leadership begins with being taught (2 Timothy 2:2).
Cross references: Mark 4:10; John 13:13-17.
- Leaven spreads silently through dough; hypocrisy spreads quietly through hearts and communities (Exodus 12:15; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).
- Hypocrisy is presenting a godly exterior while harboring sin—something Jesus repeatedly condemned (Matthew 23:25-28; Luke 11:39-44).
- The warning is protective: disciples must guard doctrine and lifestyle so the gospel remains pure (Galatians 5:9; 2 Timothy 3:5).
Crowds surged to hear Jesus, but He zeroed in on His disciples, urging vigilance against the subtle, spreading danger of religious hypocrisy. Genuine faith starts within, resists crowd pressure, and keeps the heart free from the leaven that corrupts witness and community.
XII.(1) In the mean time.--More literally, When the myriads of the multitude were gathered together. The words must be taken in immediate sequence with the close of the previous chapter. The dispute that had begun in the Pharisee's house, and had been carried on by the lawyers and scribes as they followed Jesus from it, attracted notice. As on the occasion of the "unwashed hands" (Matthew 15:10), He appeals from the scribes to the people, or rather to His own disciples, scattered among the people. The scene may be compared, in the vividness of its description, with the picture of the crowd at Capernaum (Mark 2:1-2).
Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees.--This again was obviously an expression that had become almost proverbial in our Lord's lips (Matthew 16:6). Here, however, the leaven is more definitely specified as "hypocrisy"--i.e., unreality, the simulation, conscious or unconscious, of a holiness which we do not possess. It does not follow that the Pharisees were deliberate impostors of the Tartuffe type. With them, as with other forms of religionism, it was doubtless true that the worst hypocrisy was that which did not know itself to be hypocritical. (See Note on Matthew 6:2.)
Verses 1-59. - The Lord, after leaving the Pharisee's house, speaks at great length to a numerous crowd waiting for him, addressing his words principally to his own disciples. The foregoing scene (ch. 11.), when the Master addressed his bitter reproaches to the learned and cultivated of the great Pharisee party, took place in a private house belonging to an apparently wealthy member of this, the dominant class. The name of the large village or provincial town where all this happened is unknown. The crowd who had been listening to the great Teacher before he accepted the Pharisee's invitation still lingered around the house. Many from the adjoining villages, hearing that Jesus was in this place and was publicly teaching, had arrived; so, when the Lord came out from the guest-chamber into the street or market-place, he found a vast crowd - literally, myriads of the multitude - waiting for him. The words descriptive of the crowd in ver. I indicate that a vast concourse was gathered together. His fame then was very great, though his popularity was on the wane. Verse 1. - Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. In dwelling on this and similar expressions used by our Lord in respect to the life and work of this famous section of the people who were generally so bitterly hostile to him and his teaching, we must not condemn their whole character with a condemnation more sweeping than the Master's. Utterly mistaken in their views of life and in their estimate of God, whom they professed to know, our Lord here scarcely charges them with dell-berate hypocrisy. These mistaken men dreamed that they possessed a holiness which was never theirs; unconscious hypocrites they doubtless were, without possibly even suspecting it themselves.