Mark 7:5

‘And the Pharisees and the Scribes ask him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?” '

We can be sure that the Pharisees and Scribes here were not the most amenable ones like Gamaliel (Acts 5:34). They had not come in order to be helpful. If they had Jesus would have responded accordingly. Rather they had come in order to find fault. We already know that they had thought in terms of His death (Mark 3:6), and that certain Doctors of the Law, possibly these same ones, had accused Him of being in league with Satan (Mark 3:22). So they were waiting for an occasion to attack Him.

But having said this we need not doubt that seeing some of Jesus' disciples eating without going through the proper ritual would undoubtedly have sent shivers up their spines, so strongly did they feel about it. Thus it was not just a technical question but one put with deep feeling. And the blame was laid squarely on Him in front of the crowd. The inference was that He was being deficient, that He should have ensured that His disciples observed the sacred traditions of the elders. And the crowds would be listening and watching.

It was a challenge that had to be met head on. Unless He answered it He would be seen as accepting that all Who followed Him would have to be bound by the traditions of the elders, something which would certainly have taken their eye off what was most important, and would have limited His message.

Of course, had He thought that they were right He would have acknowledged it. But His view was rightly that there were other things in God's word which were more important than arguments about a particular sect's interpretation of the Law, especially when the people involved in that sect were not themselves outstanding examples of godliness and morality.