Sol is on the right track. The part referring to the Scribes and the Pharisees not following Jesus is a direct reference to political conflicts between the mainstream and various sects, such as the Essenes.

There is argument over whether he and his followers were a splinter group from the Essenic tradition. As such, they would have been seen as a threat to the estabilished political order, as operated by the more liberal groups which got along to some extent with the Romans.