Mark 12:1

This chapter presents the central one of three great parables Christ spoke against official Israel (Mark 12:1-12), the question of tribute to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17), the Sadducees' question regarding the resurrection (Mark 12:18-27), another question regarding the great commandment (Mark 12:28-34), a final question by Jesus himself (Mark 12:35-37), another denunciation of the scribes (Mark 12:38-40), and the story of the widow's two mites (Mark 12:41-44).

And he began to speak unto them in parables. A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a pit for the wine-press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country. (Mark 12:1)

THE PARABLE OF THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN

This chapter, more than any other in Mark, is a total refutation of the Markan theory regarding the priority of this gospel. As repeatedly pointed out, the synoptics are not related to each other at all, in the sense of being dependent upon each other; but they are historical, independent accounts of the great truth revealed from God in the person and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There were three of these great denunciatory parables: (1) that of the two sons, (2) this one, and (3) that of the marriage of the king's son; and Matthew has all three of them. Mark's use of the plural "parables" in Mark 12:1 shows that he knew all three. Cranfield's statement that the plural "does not necessarily imply that there were a number of parables"[1] is wrong; because the plural here does not merely "imply" that there were more than one, it states that fact. The most logical inference, therefore, if one accepted the notion of one gospel's being dependent upon another, would be to assume that Mark here abbreviated Matthew, a position held by many of the ancients. On the other hand, it is absolutely impossible to imagine that Matthew elaborated this one parable into three. The three parables are absolutely a unit, mutually entwined and balanced in such a manner as to deny even the possibility of their not being so. For a full discussion of the interrelation of the three and their progression in a number of particulars to the climax reached in the marriage of the king's son, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 21:28ff. The arrangement here in Mark is absolutely incompatible with the Markan theory.

In these words, as Turlington noted:

The allusions to Isaiah 5:1-7 are unmistakable. The vineyard so completely tended was the "house of Israel" and the "men of Judah." The Lord himself was owner and provider.[2]

With all due deference to the "one parable, one idea" method of interpretation, wherein, as McMillan said, "Most scholars subscribe to the principle that Jesus told most of his parables to point up one basic lesson or concept,"[3] the view accepted in these commentaries is that which takes account of many analogies in each parable. The very fact of our Lord's pointing out eleven analogies in the parable of the sower and an equal number in the parable of the tares growing with the wheat (see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 13:23ff) refutes the notion of a parable's being directed only to a basic concept.

The man who planted the vineyard stands for God; the vineyard is Israel; the hedge about it is God's protection of Israel throughout the history of the chosen people; the wine-press, tower, and, in a sense, also the hedge, represent the Law of Moses and the Jewish ceremonial. The owner's going into another country represents God's leaving Israel free to work out his will during a long period prior to Christ. The husbandmen represent the Jewish religious establishment.