It happened to the people of Israel in Moses' time. It happened to the leaders of Israel in Jesus' time: it keeps on happening in today's world too - when people stop believing in God, they start to believe in anything at all - idols, superstitions, ideas, theories, self-proclaimed prophets and so on.

Jesus' problem with the authorities of His day was that they did not believe; they did not (or could not) "read" those very Scriptures on which they placed such importance. Instead, they had added detailed rules and interpretations that effectively obscured the message of God's word for them. "Search the Scriptures", Jesus told them, because these inspired writings testify to who He is. In this time of Lent, we receive the same invitation to "search the Scriptures". The object is not 'information', 'answers', or proofs for some debate, religious argument, or theory. It's a faith invitation, namely to learn how to "read" the divine word, just as we also need to "read" God's presence, His purpose and His directing in the events of our times. Also, in the circumstances of our own lives of prayer, work, family, the life and worship of our Christian community. People will always claim to have new ideas about God and Jesus, new revelations, and even new devotions. What is their authority for this? Our faith is in Jesus and the Father's authority that He's shown us.