But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him.
The Pharisees, seeing Jesus’ power and his compassionate approach to the Law, instead of believing or accepting his teaching, begin to plot, aiming to bring Jesus to destruction. Jesus’ exposing the true meaning of the Law and its authority clearly threatened the Pharisees’ position and their strict legalism. The miracles Jesus performed and his good works are rejected by them instead of being valued. This passage shows how spiritual blindness and a strict, formalistic keeping of the Law harden people’s hearts, even to the point that they begin to work against God. The Pharisees’ attitude suggests that when people focus only on outward rules and on their own status, they can stray from the true spiritual path and devise plots against the truth.