Luke 20:19
And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
The parable of the vineyard was spoken against the Jewish leaders, who are the husbandmen — the priests and scribes and elders, the rabbis and teachers and religious leaders of the nation. They perceived correctly that the parable was directed against them as a condemnation that exposed them. The verse pronounces them guilty for refusing to return to their Lord the fruit of His ground, thus robbing God of the service He claimed, by misleading the people and turning the nation away from Christ.
They knew it was against them because the presentation of the law of God unmixed with human tradition as the great standard of obedience exposed that they had set human teaching above God's word, turned the people away from His precepts, and would not give up their man-made commandments to obey God's word nor sacrifice the pride of reason and the praise of men for the truth's sake. His words exposed their purposes, deeds, character, and practices, and they saw this discernment as evidence of His divine character. Rather than accept the truth and His rebukes and warnings, they denied His right to interpose between them and the people and would not accept His claims upon the nation.
In that same hour they were stirred to enmity and sought to lay hands on Him and compass His destruction. They set themselves to turn the people against Him and plotted to trap Him, fearing He would expose their deeds to the people and destroy their popularity. They held back from seizing Him because they feared the people, yet condemnation and fear of losing popularity filled them with rage. For the rejection of Christ with the results that followed they were responsible, so that the nation's sin and the nation's ruin were due to its religious leaders.
Though spoken against the Jewish leaders, the parable applies not to the Jewish nation alone but has a lesson for the church in this generation, which God has endowed with great privileges and blessings and from which He expects corresponding returns.