It seems like Jesus is being unfairly harsh on the entire group of religious leaders, but he does so with good reason. These are the religious leaders who have been speaking on God's behalf, and the people understood their mandates as being straight from God. Jesus needed to correct both the administration of the Law and the leaders themselves, because the selfish and power-hungry approach of the religious leaders was out of line with that of the Kingdom of Jesus. Of course, he also wanted them to be part of that Kingdom. Leaders like Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Paul got it. In all likelihood, those three were part of a much larger group.