Bible Study series: Mark 12:1-12. This parable is about the Jerusalem and temple establishment. We should expect more confrontations, since he is now in Jerusalem. The establishment had already heard of him.
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Let’s begin.
Scripture: Mark 12:1-12
1 He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and placed a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress, built a tower, leased it to tenants, and left on a journey. 2 At the right time, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that he could receive from the tenants the vineyard’s produce. 3 But they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they knocked him about the head and humiliated him. 5 He sent yet another servant; they killed that one. And he sent many others, and some they beat and others they killed. 6 He still had one son, his beloved. He sent him to them last, saying ‘They’ll respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to themselves, ‘This is the heir! Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 Seizing him, they killed and threw him outside of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you never read this Scripture?”
A stone which the builders rejected-
it has become the cornerstone.
11 This is from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes.” [Ps. 118:22-23]
12 Then they sought to arrest him—but were afraid of the crowd—for they understood that he spoke the parable against them. Leaving him, they departed. (Mark 12:1-12)
Comments:
This is the second of six open conflicts with the Jerusalem establishment. Scholars call them “controversy stories,” which take place in the temple during Jesus’s last days in Jerusalem (11:27-12:44).
Landowner = God
Vineyard = Israel or more specifically, Jerusalem and temple
Tenant farmers = Leaders in the temple and Jerusalem
The situation is found in various documents of large, absentee landowners who lease their land to struggling tenant farmer in Israel and surrounding nations.
Servants (or slaves) = prophets and other messengers throughout Israel’s history
Son = Son of God or Jesus
Rejected stone = head of the corner = Jesus the Messiah
Others = converted Jews and converted Gentiles
The irony is that the religious leaders who recognized themselves in the parable will fulfill it by putting him to death.
Those who reject the Son will be placed under judgment.
Now let’s dig more deeply into the details.
1:
“parables”: literally, the word parable (parabolē in Greek) combines para– (pronounced pah-rah and means “alongside”) and bolē (pronounced boh-lay and means “put” or even “throw”). Therefore, a parable puts two or more images or ideas alongside each other to produce a clear truth. It is a story or narrative or short comparison that reveals the kingdom of God and the right way to live in it and the Father’s ways of dealing with humanity and his divine plan expressed in his kingdom and life generally. The Shorter Lexicon says that the Greek word parabolē can sometimes be translated as “symbol,” “type,” “figure,” and “illustration,” the latter term being virtually synonymous with parable. Here you must see yourself in the parable.
Jesus continues his dominance of the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders, and anyone else like them on the scene. Before, he didn’t submit to their investigation of his authority. That’s like a three-year-old asking a grandfather where he got his authority. Maybe the grandfather would also laugh it off. Now, however, Jesus takes off his gloves and “goes to town” or becomes aggressive with these leaders who claimed Moses as their authority. But he was speaking to the people within earshot of his teaching. A vineyard sometimes refers to Israel in the Old Testament (Ps. 80:8-13; Is. 5:1-2; 27:2-3; Jer. 2:21; Hos. 10:1).
Here’s a sample passage with the same phrases and words appearing in this parable and these verses in Isaiah:
I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit. […]
The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the nation of Israel (Is. 5:1-2, 7, NIV)
“left on a journey”: The owner (God) going away for a long time means that after the revelation on Mt. Sinai, where God appeared and spoke to Moses face to face throughout their sojourn across the desert, God did not give such clear and authoritative revelations—Moses was unique. Rather, he sent prophet after prophet to the people of Israel; the prophets were covenant law enforcement. Those are the series of servants in the parable.
“tenants”: this is the standard word for this occupation, but in context it could be translated more narrowly as “vine-growers.” Or “tenant farmers.” I translated it as “tenants.” They represent the religious leaders.
In this first verse, we have a series of verbs, which are very clear sequentially. This is Mark’s writing at his best.
The tower is probably a watchtower, so that servants could oversee the vineyard. The tenant farmers could have appointed their servants to stand guard. Whatever the case, it takes money to build the tower. Call it a luxury.
“right time”: it could be translated as “harvest,” but it takes a while for grapes to grow from a newly planted vineyard. In any case, the noun here is kairos (pronounced kye-ross and is used 85 times), which speaks more of a quality time than quantity. BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, and it defines the noun as follows: (1) a point of time or period of time, time, period, frequently with the implication of being especially fit for something and without emphasis on precise chronology. (a) Generally a welcome time or difficult time … fruitful times; (b) a moment or period as especially appropriate the right, proper, favorable time … at the right time; (2) a defined period for an event, definite, fixed time (e.g. period of fasting or mourning in accord with the changes in season), in due time (Gal. 6:9); (3) a period characterized by some aspect of special crisis, time; (a) generally the present time (Rom. 13:11; 12:11); (b) One of the chief terms relating to the end time … the time of crisis, the last times.
All of this stand in a mild contrast—not a sharp contrast—from chronos. Greek has another word for time: chronos (pronounced khro-noss), which measures one day, one week or one month after another. In v. 9, Luke uses chronos plus the modifier “long.” This speaks of delay in the Lord’s return. Matt. 24:43-25:30, Jesus, using different parables, elaborates on the Son of Man’s long delay.
3-5:
And here comes the first servant. The word servant here is doulos (pronounced doo-loss) and could be translated as slave, but I chose servant because in Jewish culture a Hebrew man who sold himself into servitude to his fellow Jew was like an indentured servant whose term of service had a limit; he was freed in the seventh year. But then the indentured servant could stay with his family, if he liked his owner (Exod. 21:2-6; Lev. 25:38-46; Deut. 15:12-18). So there was a lot of liberty even in servitude, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).
Slavery and Freedom in the Bible
It is a sure thing, however, that Mark’s Greek-speaking audience, knowledgeable about Greek culture, would have heard “slave” in the word doulos. So if you wish to interpret it like that, then that’s your decision. But culturally at that time slavery had nothing to do with colonial or modern slavery.
The owner reasonably requested a share in the crop of the vineyard. It is not likely that he asked for a pile of grapes, but their fair-market value in coins, particularly when he was gone. But the farmers beat him and sent him away. Criminal behavior, but the owner (God) is willing to be merciful to them, hoping they would repent.
Then God sent many servant-prophets, but the tenant farmers did awful things to them.
Then God in his mercy sent more servant-prophets to collect what rightly belonged to him. Israel belonged to God, and the farmers or tenants who got the lease had no right—legal or moral—to mistreat his lawfully commissioned servants. For centuries God sent prophets to Israel, and they were largely ignored and scorned and sometimes killed.
This passage from Jeremiah explains:
25 From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors. (Jer. 7:25-27, NIV)
Why so many in Mark’s version (Matthew says the owner sent three servants)? It shows how absurd the temple authorities and other leaders had been over the centuries. The purpose in mentioning the many servants is to pile up the crime the leaders committed.
Then God sent another servant-prophet, but they also beat and shamed him. “Humiliated” or “shamed” in Greek is literally “dishonored.” They were part of an honor-and shame society. If one man wins honor, another man walks away in shame or dishonor. In this case the farmers got the better of the owner’s (God’s) servant.
6:
Then the owner was so merciful that he sent the most authoritative man in his household—his Son.
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. (Heb. 1:1-2, NIV)
Son, but not just a son, but the Son whom the owner loved. It is the adjective agapētos (pronounced ah-gah-pay-toss), and it is related to the common noun in the Christian community, even today: agapē (pronounced ah-gah-ay).
For more discussion on this adjective and related noun and verb, see v. 30, below.
The landowner sent his precious son, even though the other servants were mistreated or killed.
David Garland offers this insight:
The allegory [of the detailed parable] reveals God’s continuous pursuit of humans, no matter how often the overtures meet with rejection. The landlord’s optimism in sending his son represents God’s endless hopefulness and constant effort to bring sinful people to their senses. God fully expects the people to produce fruit and exercises forbearance when they renege on their obligations (Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9), and what seems to utter foolishness in sending prophet after prophet and finally a beloved Son to a pack of murderers. What may look like foolishness to worldly wisdom, however (1 Cor. 1:18-25; 3:18-20), reflects the wisdom and love of God (p. 455).
I add: God was doing this right before Jerusalem’s eyes, and now our eyes. He loves us so much that he sent his Son, even though he knew (in advance) that he would be unjustly killed.
7-8:
Then the tenant farmers conspired and hatched a plan. If they kill the lead figure, then they will be able to ignore God and take the vineyard for themselves. The inheritance will be theirs, by default. And that is what they did. Of course their wickedness clouded their minds and made them stupid. The inheritance did not come to them. Just the opposite.
9:
This verse speak of God’s judgment on the Jerusalem religious establishment. How did God exact judgment on them? Recall that Jesus already had predicted Jerusalem’s destruction (Matt. 24:2). In addition, Luke 21:5-9 and 20-24 say that armies will surround Jerusalem and destroy it. And sure enough Roman armies began their sack of the city in A.D. 66 and finally conquered it in A.D. 70. Judaism as it was then practiced was over, finished. No more animal sacrifices in the temple, to cite only one example. The Jerusalem establishment was also done away with.
Who are the “others” to whom the vineyard owner would give the vineyard? These are the converted Gentiles and converted Jews. The gospel was about to go to them, and the vineyard would expand around the world (Luke 24:47). Judaism, expressed in the temple worship, sits under judgment (Matt. 21:33-45; Luke 19:41-45; 21:20-24; 23:26-31, though numerous individual priests (Acts 6:7) and thousands of Jews of Jerusalem and Judea converted (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 21:20). God loves people, but he is not enamored with systems.
Mark 13:5-31 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
Mark 13:32-37 Teaches Second Coming
Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 and 17 in Parallel Columns Are Finally Clear
This verse in Ephesians explains: “His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace” (Eph. 2:15, NIV)
10-11:
“have you never read”: = “you may have read it but have not understood it” (Strauss).
He quotes from Ps. 118:22-23. Jesus was rejected by the builders (the temple establishment), but it became the cornerstone. What humankind rejects, God accepts. When people throw something away, God picks it up and turns it into the necessary item. This is redemption.
What Is Redemption in the Bible?
No, Jesus himself did not need redemption, but he was vindicated. It’s a lesson for us who are the ones who need redemption. He can vindicate us, too, when we follow his ways. (He can even redeem us when we do not, after we repent.)
But this cornerstone is active. It not only can trip people and break them into pieces, but it can fall on them and crush them (Matt. 21:44). This is serious business.
R.. T. France writes of the quotation:
The second verse of the quotation might serve as a motto for the whole of Mark’s gospel. It is the gospel of paradox, of human amazement at the unexpected work of God. The kingdom of God has been shown especially in chapter 10 to demand the reversal of human values and expectations. In it the first are last and the last first, the rejected stone becomes the most important of all, and ‘we’ are left gazing in wonder at the inscrutable ways of God as they are being revealed not only in the teaching but also in the experience of his Messiah.
12:
The same chief priests and the elders and teachers of the law (sometimes translated as “scribe”) were there, who had challenged him, knew exactly what he meant. The tenant farmers, who had custody of the vineyard (Israel), acted unjustly and criminally against the servant-prophets. After judging the Jerusalem establishment, God was about to expand the vineyard so far outwardly that it would go around the globe, and the Gentiles would take custody of it.
But expanding the vineyard is not really the main point. Rather, the main point is that the leaders would be replaced with “others” and the church will become the new temple (1 Cor. 3:17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:5). Peter got the vision that Gentile would be and could be saved, and Cornelius and his household were the first Gentile converts to the new Jesus Movement (Acts 10). They and millions like them are the “others.”
So some could interpret the “vineyard” as the kingdom manifested at first in Israel and later in the entire church.
Here are some of my posts about the kingdom of God:
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)
Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God
Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God
Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
See v. 34 for a brief definition of the kingdom of God.
GrowApp for Mark 12:1-12
1. Jesus was rejected by the leaders, but God vindicated him. When you converted to Christ, did anyone reject you, but God’s love vindicated you?
RELATED
10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel
2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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