Why didn’t the Pharisees want to change their ways?
All of the Pharisees’ animosity toward Jesus was driven by their fear that if He came to power as Messiah, they would lose their status, their means of wealth, and all their earthly advantages (John 11:48). Despite all their pious pretenses, those things meant more to them than righteousness. So when Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33), He was teaching yet another truth that directly assaulted the Pharisees’ value system.