The Pharisees, who were they and why are they everywhere in the story?

Here’s an article in an encyclopedia. Here’s a more colorful blog post.

There is much debate about how much power they had. In a Roman land run by a maniacal family of non-Jews, how much authority did they really have? They were wealthy and were supported by the people. They were believers of God’s Word, just worked into trouble by adding to the word or missing what it really said. They often made up good portions of the Sanhedrin, but the Sadducees may have been wealthier and have had more power. Again, all of this is very unclear.

Here’s what we do know: they were basically a socio-political movement dedicated to their reading of Torah and confronted Jesus often to try to trap Him in His words. They push Jesus in the way the Sadducees push the early church (in Acts). Yet just as the church does not fold to the Sadducees, the Pharisees have no authority over the Messiah, our Lamb, the prince of shalom.