Mark tells us about Jesus interacting with the Pharisees. They are all about rules. Jesus is all about relationship. Important to remember that Jesus is a practicing Jew...he worships and teaches in the synagogues, he traveled to the temple with his parents, he was circumcised on the 8th day...all good Jewish practices.
But he draws a line when practice excludes people. If you can't ritually wash your hands, does that keep you out of the Kingdom of God? If you eat with sinners, are you no longer welcome in God's eyes? If you exclude some, are you sure you're included?
The specific challenge to the Pharisees is their practice of Corban, an offering to God that can include your entire estate. You get "credit" for giving it to God...but you get to use it until you die. What you don't have to do is share any of your estate with anyone else--like parents. You get to claim you don't have enough to give, because it has all been given to God.
In case you are still confused...think GE and paying taxes. They hide their assets and profits in all sorts of creative loopholes and wind up paying no tax on income. Bless their hearts...on paper, they made no money at all....
When even good religious rules hurt people, exclude them from the kingdom, separate them from us...the rules aren't good at all....
One way or the other, mistakes were made. There's a chance the Pharisees were right...but the gospel message from Jesus is clear. Always err on the side of relationship...reconciliation. Bringing people together, bringing people in is the rule of thumb.
I believe it was stated as "love God, love your neighbor as yourself..."
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