The Parable of the Vineyard. The genuineness of this parable is disputed (1) because it is allegorical in character; (2) because it reflects a later situation and assumes Christ's death; (3) because it embodies an open claim to Messiahship which is in consistent with the prudent and guarded answers of Jesus to questions about authority. That this parable, unlike most others, is an allegory, does not render it suspect as an utterance of Jesus (Mark 4:1-34 *). That such a parable is out of place before the death of Christ involves the dubious assumption that Jesus could not have viewed His death as marking the end of God's mercy to Israel. While the Messianic claim is more boldly asserted here than elsewhere, yet throughout this section of the gospel, there is less reticence about the Messiahship, and the moral of the parable is not explicitly drawn which does harmonise with the prudence of the sayings of Jesus. On the other hand, if a later composition, the story is, in some respects, strange. Why do the details not fit the Crucifixion, if they are composed after the event (contrast Mark 12:8 with Matthew 21:39)? and why is there no allusion to the Resurrection? (See Burkitt, Trans. of Third Congress of Religions, ii. 321f.) The opening of the story is based on Isaiah 5:1 f., while the words of the husbandmen in Mark 12:7 recall Genesis 37:20. The story describes the history of Israel, and implies that Jesus felt Himself to be God's last appeal to His people, and also thought their rejection of Him would issue in His becoming the foundation of a new community which should inherit God's kingdom. The quotation in Mark 12:10 f. is from Psalms 118:22 f. It is used in Acts 4:11 and 1 Peter 2:4; 1 Peter 2:7.
Mark 12:1-12
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 ours.
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.