Matthew 21

After Jesus taught two parables including the wicked husbandmen beating the householder servants and later his son, we read that  -

"...when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet."  (Matthew 21:45–46)

I believe the chief priests and Pharisees knew exactly what they were doing and that the Savior also knew.