The Vineyard and the Heir
9 He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time. 10 At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty. 11 He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 12 He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him and threw him out. 13 The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 Then they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!” 17 But he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the chief cornerstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.” 19 The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.
Tenants beat the servants and kill the son, and the men listening say "may it never be" — because they understood.
He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.
The parable is told in the earlier accounts Mark 12:1–27 Matthew 21:33–46, where Isaiah's song of the vineyard stands behind the opening and the tenants rather than the vines are at fault. Every hearer knew that the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel Isaiah 5:7.
He began to tell the people this parable Luke 20:9 — the crowd, in the hearing of the delegation that has just failed to answer him. So it is a public answer to a private question.
The servants come in three waves, beaten, treated shamefully, wounded and thrown out. Then: "What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him" Luke 20:13.
Beloved son is the phrase the voice from heaven used at the Jordan and on the mountain Luke 3:22 Luke 9:35. The parable stops pretending to be about agriculture at that word.
“But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’
The reasoning is strange, since killing an heir transfers no deed. It only makes sense in men who have stopped believing the owner will ever come back.
He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”
The outcry is this account's own and it is the most revealing line in the passage. They have followed it exactly, and their objection is not to the story's logic but to its ending. Men who cannot answer a question about John can follow a parable about themselves perfectly well.
"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone" Luke 20:17 Psalms 118:22. The image changes from tenants to builders — men whose profession is judging materials, who examined this stone and threw it on the pile.
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”
Two ways of meeting it and only one of them is survivable, and the difference is which of the two is moving.
The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.
Understanding it changed nothing except the urgency.
settled What this mark means