I think he was rubbing their mental inflexibility in their faces with a certain amount of unholy glee in what he was doing...just as he was doing to the press also at the time. He was challenging them to step out of their usual comfort zones, and those who had no intention of doing so got really angry about it. They already felt 100% righteous just exactly the way they were, and he was mocking their righteousness. He felt they took themselves way too seriously.

And rightly so, I believe.