When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them.
The chief priests and the Pharisees, who represented Israel’s religious authority, immediately sensed that Jesus’ parables were directed at them, as the fruitless tenants who did not keep God’s vineyard and rejected those sent by God. This shows that Jesus’ words were so clear that even those who were deaf to His message could not fail to recognize the verdict pronounced against them. Yet that awareness did not save them, because instead of tenderness of heart, hardness was born in their hearts. This verse highlights a kind of tragedy of spiritual blindness, when a person understands the truth but cannot accept it, or pushes it away.