Jesus had become very popular. Films about the gospels often show Jesus, the twelve apostles, and perhaps a few others walking down lonely dirt roads. However, the gospels make it clear, such as verse one that many thousands of people would gather at their stops and also walk with them (10:1). Jesus was very popular with the average person though the leaders constantly opposed him.
Jesus uses yeast as the similitude’s focus making this similar to Matthew 16:5-12 and Mark 8:14-21 which also uses yeast to illustrate a truth. However, those two gospel accounts record different times.
Hypocrisy is like yeast. Practiced even a few times in secret will affect the whole person and even those around them. Hypocrisy changes a person in ways that are not visible at first. It is slow, corrupting, and unstoppable. Hypocrisy is a pretense to being what one really is not, especially the pretense of being a better person than one really is.
A hypocrite is like an actor in a play, except a hypocrite often falsely believes they are the hero of the drama. They expect and want people to celebrate their delusion… their deception. Everyone is a hypocrite at one time, and then another, and another. The character of a follower of Jesus is to contain sincerity. Christian love (Romans 12:9; 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22), faith (1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:5), and wisdom (James 3:17) should be sincere.
