Luke 20:19-20
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 they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.

The parable referred to here is the one Jesus tells of the husbandmen who wanted the vineyard all to themselves and killed the servants the owner sent to collect the fruit that rightfully belonged to him. They even go so far as to kill the son sent by the owner, a prophetic picture of what these Pharisees would do to the Son of God. It was indeed a parable against them. But their reaction is not one of fear and repentance, but anger and revenge.

When it came right down to it, the Pharisees didn’t want to change. They weren’t trying to learn and grow in their faith and understanding of God or wanting to have a better relationship with Him. They wanted to maintain the status quo where they had their bit of power and position in society. And maybe they even thought they were experts on God and how He wanted them to live. The things that Jesus said to them were these kind of scathing condemnations of their attitudes and behavior, and yet their response is never to examine themselves, confess their sins, change their ways. Instead they just keep getting more and more angry at Jesus.

Sometimes we can be like that, too. The convicting hand of God is uncomfortable. Sometimes instead of submitting, we push back against Him. Sometimes the honest truth is we don’t want to change. We like things how they are even if it’s not quite what God wants for us. And sometimes we may even look for some outside way to justify ourselves rather than learning the lesson that God is trying to teach us.

The answer is not to get rid of Jesus. Certainly no sincere believer in Christ would want to do that. But at times we do create distance from Him if we refuse the lesson He is trying to teach us or if we don’t want to do something different that He is asking us to do. Humility and submission were traits that the Pharisees often seemed to lack, but for us, they could go a long way in helping us stay on track and stay in step with Jesus and His Word. And if we’re willing to surrender to Him, we will find His way really is much better than our way.