Fascinated with the Pharisees

I've always been fascinated with the Pharisees.  They were trying so hard to live how they thought they were supposed to live, but it turns out they were way off.  They were so consumed by following the "Law" - which let me remind you was the word of God, but as Jesus says at one time, "You're missing the more important things".

I was just reading Matthew 12 where Jesus heals the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees respond by "going out and conspiring against him, how to destroy him".  Jesus heals somebody and they go out and try to figure out how to get rid of him.

Jesus was changing everything that they knew of as truth.  How they lived, how they worshiped, how they understood God, they were being shown a different way to live for God - and they didn't like it.

I have to be careful not to assume that the Christianity that I've come to know as truth doesn't keep me from actually living the way God truly wants me to live.

"you give a tenth of your spices, but you're missing the more important things:  Justice, mercy, and faithfulness" - Matthew 23:23