“But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours.’ So, they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.” - Mark 12:1-11
Reflection by The Pickart Family
In this parable, Jesus tells a story that challenges and shames the high priests of his time. When Jesus finishes, the priests are so insulted that they want to arrest him. Fearing the crowd’s reaction, they leave.
This parable, like others, raises questions in the reader’s mind: Whom do the characters represent? What is the message? Clearly, Mark wants us to believe that the tenants are the high priests themselves. In that sense, the parable illustrates their hypocrisy, and how their followers are headed to eternal condemnation. After killing the son, the tenants learn the inheritance will not be theirs, and that “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
Another interpretation, however, might be that the tenants represent not just the scribes but all humankind. The tenants reject, harm, and even kill successive messengers sent by the owner, the last of which is his favored son. Doesn’t that describe how the world treated the prophets and Jesus himself? Could this parable also serve as a reminder of original sin?
Indirectly, the parable has positive and affirming messages—God is patient, forgiving, and willing to sacrifice His son for us. At its core, however, the parable (and this passage in particular) is a rather stern warning of humanity’s flaws. People are imperfect to begin with, and under weak or evil leadership, they will make astonishingly bad decisions and will never find salvation. Following God’s word is foremost a personal decision—a path that has to be chosen and walked by people as individuals.
