He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. 2 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. 5 He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. 6 He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What [then] will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture passage: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’?” 12 They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.
Jesus tells this parable after the chief priests, scribes, and elders have questioned His authority in the temple. They have seen Him act publicly in the house of God, and they ask who gave Him the authority to do these things. Jesus now answers them through a story.
The vineyard recalls the prophet Isaiah, where Israel is described as the vineyard of the Lord (Is. 5:1-7). God had planted and cared for His people with love. In the parable, the owner plants the vineyard, protects it with a hedge, prepares a wine press, and builds a tower (v. 1). The image shows careful preparation. The vineyard belongs to the owner, and the tenant farmers are entrusted with its care. They are not the owners. They work the vineyard and are expected to give the owner his rightful share of the produce at the proper time.
At the proper time, the owner sends servants to receive his share of the vineyard’s fruit (v. 2). The tenants respond with violence. They beat one servant, shame another, and kill others (vv. 3-5). This reflects the history of God’s messengers to Israel, especially the prophets, who were sent to call His people back to fidelity. Scripture often remembers how God’s prophets were rejected. For example, Elijah was threatened after calling Israel back to the Lord (1 Kgs. 19:1-3). Zechariah was killed after calling the people back to God (2 Chr. 24:20-22). Nehemiah recalls that God’s people sometimes rejected the prophets who warned them (Neh. 9:26).
The owner then sends his beloved son (v. 6). In Mark’s Gospel, the phrase “beloved son” recalls the voice of the Father at Jesus’ Baptism and Transfiguration: “You are my beloved Son” and “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mk. 1:11; 9:7). The parable is now pointing directly to Jesus. He is the Son sent by the Father.
In the parable, the tenant farmers know the son is the heir, yet they reject him. Jesus applies this to leaders who refuse the one sent by God and seek to protect their own authority. They say, “Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours” (v. 7). Their sin is deliberate. They want the vineyard without the owner. This is the deeper disorder at the heart of the parable: they want God’s gifts while refusing God’s authority.
The son is seized, killed, and thrown out of the vineyard (v. 8). This points toward Jesus’ own death. He will be rejected by the leaders, handed over, and crucified outside Jerusalem. The Letter to the Hebrews later says that “Jesus also suffered outside the gate, to consecrate the people by his own blood” (Heb. 13:12).
Jesus then asks what the owner of the vineyard will do. The answer is judgment: the owner will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others (v. 9). The parable is directed at the leaders who reject God’s messengers and now reject His Son. The “others” are those who will be faithful to the Son and bear fruit for God. This includes the community gathered around Christ, first from faithful Israel and then from all nations.
Jesus then quotes Psalm 118: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (vv. 10-11; Ps. 118:22-23). The rejected son and the rejected stone point to the same mystery. Jesus will be rejected, but the Father will vindicate Him. The crucified Christ is risen, and He becomes the cornerstone of God’s people.
A cornerstone is the stone on which the building depends. The New Testament applies this verse to Jesus directly: “He is ‘the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone’” (Acts 4:11). St. Peter also speaks of Christ as the living stone and says that believers are built into a spiritual house through Him (1 Pet. 2:4-5, 7). St. Paul says that the household of God is built on the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20-21).
The leaders understand that Jesus has spoken the parable against them (v. 12). They understand the warning, but instead of turning back to God, they look for a way to seize Jesus. They fear the crowd, but they do not show humble obedience to God.
Father, You sent Your beloved Son for our salvation. Help us receive Him with faith, listen to His word, and bear lasting fruit that is pleasing to You. Keep us faithful to Christ, the cornerstone of Your people. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Sources and References
- New American Bible, Revised Edition. Mark 12:1-12 and note on Mark 12:1-12.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, 87-88.
- Casciaro, José María, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008, 207-208.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990, 621, §76.
- Aguilar Chiu, José Enrique, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018, 1011-1012.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, Third Fully Revised Edition, with a Foreword by Pope Francis. London: Bloomsbury; New York: T&T Clark, 2022, 1271-1273.
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