- 1 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
- 5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. 6 Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. 7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's. 8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
- 9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. 10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: 11 This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
- Compare: Matthew 21:33-46; Luke 20:9-19
Jesus’ Message on the Fate of Israel
Jesus’ parable of the wicked husbandmen is one of his most important, and for good reason it occupies the central position of Jesus’ Jerusalem ministry. This parable is brimming with allegorical elements to a large number of Old Testament passages, all of which would have been meaningful to early Christian-Jewish audiences but probably meaningless to Gentiles who read or listened.
To whom is Jesus speaking? At the end of chapter 11 Jesus was arguing with the highest authorities of the Temple: the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Presumably, then, Jesus’ immediate audience consists of them, some gathering of people in the Temple, and of course his disciples. This is important to remember as we see what Jesus has to say to them.
The message here is fundamentally the same as that which Mark communicated to his own audience via the incident with the cursed fig tree and Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple. Here, however, Jesus is delivering the message himself directly to his own audience, creating an interesting narrative parallel.
Mark’s message to his audience was that the old order would have to be overturned — and that this was a necessary step in God’s plan for the coming apocalypse. Jesus also tells those around him that the old order would have to be overturned, but this time the apocalyptic determinism is missing and the source of the problem is located in “wickedness.”
There are many features of this passage that have led scholars to argue that it probably wouldn’t have been an original parable of Jesus. There are a number of points which reflect the doctrines of later Christian theology: foretelling his death (though not his resurrection, which is interesting), identifying himself as the Son of God (rather than the Son of man), and perhaps a reference to the Gentile mission where the role of Israel will be given to the Christian Church (though it’s not clear just who is meant by the “others”).
At the end Mark says that the priests, scribes, and elders figure out that Jesus is talking about them and describes them as “wicked husbandmen” who have been abusing their power. This is interesting in light of Jesus’ assertion back in chapter 4 that he uses parables to teach so that outsiders would not understand what exactly he means before it is too late for them to do anything about it.
More typical is the fact that the authorities recognize that they are being made to look ridiculous, a common reaction that Mark describes among Jesus’ debating opponents. They are unable to do anything, however, because of his popularity, and the repeated thwarting of their desires in this matter helps heighten the dramatic tension of Mark’s narrative.
