Either they would accept the message of the Son or face certain judgment. So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard : This parable tells us that Jesus knew He was the Son – the Son of God – and that He knew that He would soon be killed. They apparently thought that if they killed the owner’s son, the owner would then just give up and let them have the vineyard.ĭ. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours : The vinedressers were very foolish. They soon found out that even though they couldn’t see the owner, his authority was still real. Because the owner of the vineyard was not present at the time, the vinedressers doubted and mocked his authority. He sent messenger after messenger, even though they were all abused and mistreated. Again he sent them another servant… And again he sent another… and many others : The owner was very patient. A generous owner allowed them to work in his vineyard, yet they turned against the owner and one day had to answer for it. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed : The vinedressers didn’t buy the vineyard, and they did not build it. Therefore, the vinedressers represented the rulers of Israel and the vineyard represented the people of God as a whole.Ĭ. That he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers : Because Jesus spoke to a Jewish audience, they were aware that the vineyard was used in the Old Testament as a picture of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7). “In a day when title was sometimes uncertain, anyone who had had the use of land for three years was presumed to own it in the absence of an alternative claim.” (Morris)ī. Archaeologists have discovered records of this same sort of dispute between landowners and tenant farmers. He leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country : This sort of tenant farming relationship was a common practice in Jesus’ day, especially in the region of Galilee. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.”Ī. Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. And again he sent another, and him they killed and many others, beating some and killing some. Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.
And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Then He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. (1-8) A parable about a landowner and his tenants. Mark 12 – Jesus Debates the Authorities A.