Jesus, People, Pharisees: Exploring the Conflict in Galilee

 As a result, Jesus' contentious relations with the Pharisees are best understood as a conflict over political power, not religious scruples. The Pharisees in Galilee were agents of the temple authorities, who were ultimately concerned about the Roman authorities and therefore attempted to prevent the crowds around Jesus from forming into rebellions, riots, or revolution. Jesus, on the other hand, was forming a network of kingdom followers who were drawn increasingly from the crowds, and the powers in Rome sent the Pharisees, who were popular with the crowds, to calm a potential problem.