One of the hazards in growing up in a Protestant nation like the USA is that our theology is suffused with dispensationalism and odd evangelical movies. Because of this, many American Christians (including Catholics) picture Jesus as a hippie with no concern for the moral law.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, are portrayed as the people of the First Century in Israel who were overly-concerned with the Commandments and the Jewish law. Indeed, many Christian movies make Jesus out to be the beatnik who dissolved the moral law while the Pharisees were not only hypocrites, but even bad for thinking the Commandments mattered.
The Church Fathers, however, paint a very different picture. As we will see from Scripture and the Fathers below, the Pharisees were not only hypocrites—they didn’t even take the Jewish law seriously.
Firstly, let us remember what Our Lord said: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.—Mt 5:17-18. Thus, the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament without negating it.
Secondly, let us remember how many times the Pharisees broke not only the New Law, but even the Old Law in the New Testament. For example, even the Mishnah held that no capital trial could take place at night. And yet, such a travesty is exactly what the Jewish religious executed against Christ in a nocturnal kangaroo-court: And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.—Mk 14:53-54.
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