The most Churched Pharisees and Saducees were rebuked harsher than anyone by Jesus.
And they’d been studying their religion for years and years, and considered themselves learned and educated in their faith more than others, and they also considered themselves better and holier than others because of it and because they believed they adhered strictly to the orthodoxy better than others. And as you said, Jesus put them in their place. Every. Single. Time.
