Mark 12:12

And they sought to lay hold on him; and they feared the multitude: for they perceived that he spake the parable against them: and they left him and went away.

Sought to lay hold ... Having long ago determined to kill Christ, their concern at the time indicated here was to bring him into custody without creating an uproar among the people.

They perceived that he spake the parable against them ... This means that they clearly understood Jesus' claims, there being no way for them to escape the messianic implications of all that he had said. How strange it is that some moderns are even more blind than the Jewish hierarchy, professing to find no messianic import in such words as these!

This parable is exceedingly comprehensive in meaning. Ryle said:

The history of the Jewish nation, from the day that Israel left Egypt to the destruction of Jerusalem, is set forth here as in a glass. Under the figure of the vineyard and the husbandmen, the Lord tells the story of God's dealings with his people for fifteen hundred years.[7]

Moreover, it was skillfully and incisively related. As Erdman noted:

He exposed their treachery and virtually compelled them to renounce their boasted authority as religious leaders. He does more. By a simple parable, he fully answered their question, claimed divine authority, charged the rulers with unfaithfulness to God, and with plotting to murder God's Son; yet his statements are in such a form that the rulers are disarmed, unable to arrest him, attack him, or even accuse him of fault. He only tells them a little story; and who can object to a little anecdote?[8]

Truly, "never man so spake"!

[7] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), Matthew-Mark, II, p. 241.

[8] Charles R. Erdman, The Gospel of Mark (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1966), p. 174.