The Owner, The Tenants, and The Son Text: Mark 12:1-12
Introduction: A Parable of Eviction
We come now to a parable that is less a gentle story and more a formal indictment, a legal summons, and a declaration of war. Jesus is in Jerusalem, in the final week of His earthly ministry. He has cleansed the Temple, a prophetic act of judgment against its corruption, and He has silenced the chief priests, scribes, and elders who questioned His authority. They demanded to know by what right He was doing these things, and in response, He tells them this parable. This story is His answer. It is a crystal clear explanation of His authority, their rebellion, and the coming cataclysm.
This is not a story for outsiders. Jesus speaks this directly to the religious leadership of Israel, the men who considered themselves the guardians of the covenant. But the parable reveals them to be not guardians, but gangsters. They are not faithful stewards, but squatters who have decided the vineyard belongs to them. They have forgotten the fundamental distinction between the Creator and the creature, the Owner and the tenant. And when a man forgets who owns the place, it is only a matter of time before he receives an eviction notice.
This parable is a concise history of Israel's covenant rebellion. It explains why the prophets were rejected, why the Son had to come, and why Jerusalem was just a few decades away from being surrounded by Roman armies and torn down stone by stone. But it is also a glorious prophecy of the triumph of Christ. It shows us that God's purposes are not thwarted by the rebellion of men. In fact, in a display of breathtaking sovereignty, God uses the very act of their ultimate rebellion, the murder of His Son, as the means by which He establishes a new and better house, with a new and better foundation. The stone they rejected becomes the cornerstone of everything.
So as we unpack this, we must see it for what it is. It is a legal brief, outlining the case of God against the corrupt leadership of first-century Israel. It is a prophecy of judgment and kingdom transfer. And it is a glorious declaration that the plans of God cannot be stopped by the schemes of wicked men.
The Text
And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine-growers. And they took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ And they took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?” And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the crowd, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.
(Mark 12:1-12 LSB)
God's Lavish Investment (v. 1)
Jesus begins with a familiar image from the Old Testament, one that every educated Jew would have recognized instantly.
"A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey." (Mark 12:1)
The prophet Isaiah used this very same imagery. "My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it" (Isaiah 5:1-2). In Isaiah, God explicitly identifies the vineyard as "the house of Israel." So Jesus is not being subtle. The owner of the vineyard is God the Father. The vineyard is the nation of Israel, the covenant people.
Notice the extraordinary care the owner takes. He does everything necessary for this vineyard to be secure and fruitful. He plants it, which is the act of election and creation. He puts a wall around it, which is the Torah, the law that separated Israel from the pagan nations. He dug a wine press, which represents the sacrificial system for dealing with sin. He built a tower, a place for watchmen, which signifies the prophets and the priests who were to guard the nation's spiritual health. This is a picture of God's lavish, covenantal grace. He gave Israel every possible advantage: a special land, His holy law, a system of worship, and spiritual oversight. He spared no expense.
Then He "rented it out to vine-growers." These are the tenants, the stewards. In the context of Jesus's audience, these are the religious leaders: the priests, the scribes, the elders of the people. They were entrusted with the care of God's people. Their job was to cultivate faithfulness and righteousness, to produce the fruit of the covenant for the glory of the Owner. The Owner then "went on a journey," which signifies the period between the giving of the covenant at Sinai and the coming of Christ. God was not absent, but He entrusted the day-to-day operations to these appointed leaders.
Rebellious Tenants and Rejected Messengers (v. 2-5)
The parable now moves from God's faithfulness to man's rebellion. The time comes for the owner to receive his due.
"And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine-growers. And they took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others." (Mark 12:2-5)
The slaves are the Old Testament prophets. God sent messenger after messenger to His people, calling them to repentance and demanding the fruit of righteousness that was His rightful due. And what was the consistent response of the leadership? Rejection, abuse, and murder. Stephen rehearsed this very history in his sermon before the Sanhedrin: "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One" (Acts 7:52). Jesus Himself lamented over this pattern: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!" (Matthew 23:37).
The tenants did not want to give the owner his fruit because they had begun to think of the vineyard as their own. They were consuming the profits themselves. The religious leaders of Israel had turned God's vineyard into their own personal racket. They loved the prestige, the power, and the money that came with their positions, but they had no love for the Owner and no desire to produce the fruit He required. The prophets were a threat to their corrupt enterprise, so they had to be silenced, one way or another.
The Beloved Son (v. 6-8)
The owner's patience is astonishing. After repeated, violent rejections, he makes one final, ultimate appeal.
"He had one more, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ And they took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard." (Mark 12:6-8)
Here, Jesus removes all ambiguity. He is the beloved Son. God the Father, at the baptism of Jesus, declared from heaven, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). After centuries of sending servants, God sent His own Son. This was the final and ultimate word (Hebrews 1:1-2). The owner's statement, "They will respect my son," is not a statement of ignorance, but rather a way of highlighting the depth of the tenants' wickedness. Their rebellion is so profound that they will do the unthinkable.
And their motive is laid bare: pure, murderous greed. "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!" This is a stunningly accurate depiction of the conspiracy that was, at that very moment, unfolding against Jesus. The chief priests and Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their control over the nation. If they could eliminate Him, they thought, they could secure their position and their inheritance. It was a hostile takeover bid. They reasoned that if the heir is dead, the property falls to the tenants.
The details are precise and prophetic. "They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard." Jesus was arrested by the temple leadership, handed over to the Romans, and crucified outside the city walls of Jerusalem, cast out of the vineyard of Israel. The author of Hebrews picks up on this very point: "So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood" (Hebrews 13:12). Their act of ultimate rejection became the very means of our salvation.
Judgment and Transfer (v. 9-11)
Jesus now turns from narrator to judge, posing a question to His hearers that forces them to condemn themselves.
"What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others." (Mark 12:9)
The answer is simple and just. The owner will execute a final, decisive judgment. This is a direct prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Within a generation, the Roman armies would come and completely destroy that generation of wicked tenants and their entire religious system. The temple would be torn down, the priesthood would be abolished, and the city would be burned.
And the vineyard would be given to "others." The stewardship of the kingdom of God would be taken from the apostate leadership of national Israel and given to a new body, the Christian church, made up of both Jews and Gentiles who bear the fruit of the kingdom. This is not the destruction of the vineyard, but a change in management. The covenant promises made to Abraham were not nullified; they were fulfilled in Christ and inherited by all who are in Christ, who is the true seed of Abraham. The kingdom was transferred from those who rejected the Son to those who receive Him.
Jesus then drives the point home by quoting from Psalm 118, a psalm they all would have sung during the Passover festival.
"Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?” (Mark 12:10-11)
The "builders" are the same people as the "vine-growers," the leaders of Israel. They were supposed to be building God's house, but when the most important stone of all, the cornerstone, was presented to them, they rejected it. They examined Jesus, found Him wanting by their corrupt standards, and tossed Him aside onto the scrap heap of crucifixion. But God is the master architect. He went to the scrap heap, picked up that rejected stone, and made Him the very foundation of the new temple, the Church. The resurrection was God's great reversal. The one they killed, God raised. The one they shamed, God glorified. The one they rejected, God made the cornerstone of all reality.
And this is the Lord's doing. It is not the result of human wisdom or political maneuvering. It is a supernatural act of God, and to those who have eyes to see, it is marvelous. The gospel is the story of how God takes the worst thing that ever happened, the murder of His Son, and turns it into the best thing that ever happened, the salvation of the world.
Hardened Hearts (v. 12)
The parable hits its mark. The leaders understand it perfectly. And their reaction proves that they are, in fact, the wicked tenants.
"And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the crowd, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away." (Mark 12:12)
Notice their response. It is not repentance. It is not fear of God. It is not a moment of self-examination. Their response is to try and carry out the very plot described in the parable. They hear a story about wicked men who conspire to kill the owner's son, and their immediate reaction is to conspire to kill the owner's Son. They fulfill the prophecy even as they hear it. The only thing that stops them is not the fear of God, but the fear of men, the fear of the crowd. Their hearts were utterly hard. The light of the parable, instead of leading them to repentance, only intensified their hatred and their murderous resolve.
This is the terrifying nature of a hardened heart. When confronted with the truth, it does not soften; it doubles down in its rebellion. They understood every word Jesus said. They just hated it. And so they left Him, for a time, to go and finalize their plans to kill the heir and seize the inheritance.