The lectionary now returns to Mark s Gospel, and presents the hardened attitude of the Pharisees as a continuation of the rejection by the disciples in last week s reading. Pharisees were by no means what we would call bad people. They were rightfully looked up to by all as being models of what it means to be good.
Religious traditions are necessary to give concrete expression to religious spirit.
But if these traditions assume greater importance than the spirit, they kill the spirit. This distortion of priorities in the name of religion is more dangerous than the more obvious forms of sin, which is why Jesus condemns the Pharisaic attitude harshly, and yet appears forgiving and lenient toward other sinners. Tradition had developed numerous ways a person could become ritually impure, which had nothing to do with personal morality or sinfulness but was simply a temporary unfitness for performing a rite of worship. Elaborate rituals for cleansing were also created. Jesus point is that these things do not touch the core of our being.