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Commentary on Mark 12 verses 1–12
Christ had formerly in parables showed how he designed to set up the gospel church; now he begins in parables to show how he would lay aside the Jewish church, which it might have been grafted into the stock of, but was built upon the ruins of. This parable we had just as we have it here, Mat 21:33. We may observe here,
I. They that enjoy the privileges of the visible church, have a vineyard let out to them, which is capable of great improvement, and from the occupiers of which rent is justly expected. When God showed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and judgments unto Israel (Psa 147:19), when he set up his temple among them, his priesthood, and his ordinances, then he let out to them the vineyard he had planted; which he hedged, and in which he built a tower, Mar 12:1. Members of the church are God's tenants, and they have both a good Landlord and a good bargain, and may live well upon it, if it be not their own fault.
II. Those whom God lets out his vineyard to, he sends his servants to, to put them in mind of his just expectations from them, Mar 12:2. He was not hasty in his demands, nor high, for he did not send for the rent till they could make it, at the season; nor did he put them to the trouble of making money of it, but was willing to take it in specie.
III. It is sad to think what base usage God's faithful ministers have met with, in all ages, from those that have enjoyed the privileges of the church, and have not brought forth fruit answerable. The Old Testament prophets were persecuted even by those that went under the name of the Old Testament church. They beat them, and sent them empty away (Mar 12:3); that was bad: they wounded them, and sent them away shamefully entreated (Mar 12:4); that was worse: nay, at length, they came to such a pitch of wickedness, that they killed them, Mar 12:5.
IV. It was no wonder if those who abused the prophets, abused Christ himself. God did at length send them his Son, his well-beloved; it was therefore so much the greater kindness in him to send him; as in Jacob to send Joseph to visit his brethren, Gen 37:14. And it might be expected that he whom their Master loved, they also should respect and love (Mar 12:6); "They will reverence my son, and, in reverence to him, will pay their rent." But, instead of reverencing him because he was the son and heir, they therefore hated him, Mar 12:7. Because Christ, in calling to repentance and reformation, made his demands with more authority than the prophets had done, they were the more enraged against him, and determined to put him to death, that they might engross all church power to themselves, and that all the respect and obedience of the people might be paid to them only; "The inheritance shall be ours, we will be lords paramount, and bear all the sway." There is an inheritance, which, if they had duly reverenced the Son, might have been theirs, a heavenly inheritance; but they slighted that, and would have their inheritance in the wealth, and pomp, and powers, of this world. So they took him, and killed him; they had not done it yet, but they would do it in a little time; and they cast him out of the vineyard, they refused to admit his gospel when he was gone; it would by no means agree with their scheme, and so they threw it out with disdain and detestation.
V. For such sinful and shameful doings nothing can be expected but a fearful doom (Mar 12:9); What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do? It is easy to say what, for nothing could be done more provoking.
1.He will come, and destroy the husbandmen, whom he would have saved. When they only denied the fruit, he did not distrain upon them for rent, nor disseize them and dispossess them for non-payment; but when they killed his servants, and his Son, he determined to destroy them; and this was fulfilled when Jerusalem was laid waste, and the Jewish nation extirpated and made a desolation.
2.He will give the vineyards to others. If he have not the rent from them, he will have it from another people, for God will be no loser by any. This was fulfilled in the taking in of the Gentiles, and the abundance of fruit which the gospel brought forth in all the world, Col 1:6. If some from whom we expected well, prove bad, it doth not follow but that others will be better. Christ encouraged himself with this in his undertaking; Though Israel be not gathered, not gathered to him, but gathered against him, yet shall I be glorious (Isa 49:5, Isa 49:6), as a Light to lighten the Gentiles.
3.Their opposition to Christ's exaltation shall be no obstruction to it (Mar 12:10, Mar 12:11); The stone which the builders rejected, notwithstanding that, is become the Head of the corner, is highly advanced as the Head-stone, and of necessary use and influence as the Corner-stone. God will set Christ as his King, upon his holy hill of Zion, in spite of their project, who would break his bands asunder. And all the world shall see and own this to be the Lord's doing, in justice to the Jews, and in compassion to the Gentiles. The exaltation of Christ was the Lord's doing, and it is his doing to exalt him in our hearts, and to set up his throne there; and if it be done, it cannot but be marvellous in our eyes.
Now what effect had this parable upon the chief priests and scribes, whose conviction was designed by it? They knew he spoke this parable against them, Mar 12:12. They could not but see their own faces in the glass of it; and one would think it showed them their sin so very heinous, and their ruin so certain and great, that it should have frightened them into a compliance with Christ and his gospel, should have prevailed to bring them to repentance, at least to make them desist from their malicious purpose against him: but, instead of that, (1.) They sought to lay hold on him, and make him their prisoner immediately, and so to fulfil what he had just now said they would do to him, Mar 12:8. (2.) Nothing restrained them from it but the awe they stood in of the people; they did not reverence Christ, nor had an fear of God before their eyes, but were afraid, if they should publicly lay hold on Christ, the mob would rise, and lay hold on them, and rescue them. (3.) They left him, and went their way; if they could not do hurt to him, they resolved he should not do good to them, and therefore they got out of the hearing of his powerful preaching, lest they should be converted and healed. Note, If men's prejudices be not conquered by the evidence of truth, they are but confirmed; and if the corruptions of the heart be not subdued by faithful reproofs, they are but enraged and exasperated. If the gospel be not a savour of life unto life, it will be a savour of death unto death.
God the Father is called a man by a human conception. The vineyard is the house of Israel; the hedge is the guardianship of Angels; the winefat is the law, the tower is the temple, and the husbandmen, the priests.
The servants who were sent were the prophets, the fruit of the vineyard is obedience; some of the prophets were beaten, others wounded, others slain. Wherefore it goes on, And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
The well-beloved son and the last is the Only-begotten; and in that He says, They will reverence my son, He speaks in irony.
Or else, they cast Him out of the vineyard, that is, out of the people, saying Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil. (John 8:48) 1Or, as far as in them lay, they cast Him out of their own borders, and gave Him up to the Gentiles that they might receive Him. There follows, What then will the Lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy those husbandmen, and give the vineyard unto other.
Or else, the vineyard is given to others, that is, to those who come from the east, and from the west, and from the south, and from the north, and who sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
This rejected stone, which is borne by that corner where the lamb and the bread met in the supper, ending the Old and beginning the New Testament, does things marvellous in our eyes as the topaz. (Ps. 118, Ps. 127. Vulg.)
(in Marc. 3, 42) Or else, the hedge is the wall of the city, the winefat is the altar, or those winefats, by which three psalms receive their name.
(ubi sup.) Not by any change of place, but He seemed to go away from the vineyard, that He might leave the husbandmen to act on their own freewill. It goes on: And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.
(ubi sup.) By the servant who was first sent, we must understand Moses, but they beat him, and sent him away empty, because they angered Moses in the tents. (Ps. 106:6) There follows, And again he sent unto them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. This other servant means David and the other Psalmists, but they wounded Him in the head and shamefully handled him, because they despised the songs of the Psalmists and rejected David himself, saying, What portion have we in David? (1 Kings 12:16) It goes on, And he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; heating some, and killing some. By the third servant and his companions, understand the band of the prophets. But which of the prophets did they not persecute? In these three kinds of servants, as the Lord Himself elsewhere pronounces, may be included in a figure all the doctors under the law, when He says, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. (Luke 24:44)
(ubi sup.) Or else, this is not said in ignorance, but God is said to doubt, that freedom of will may be left to man.
(ubi sup.) The Lord proves most clearly that the chiefs of the Jews did not crucify the Son of God through ignorance, but through envy; for they understood that this was He to whom it was said, I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. (Ps. 2:8) But these evil husbandmen strove to seize upon it by slaying Him, when the Jews crucifying Him tried to extinguish the faith which is by Him, and rather to bring forward their own righteousness which is by the Law, and to thrust it on the nations, and to imbue them with it. There follows: And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
(ubi sup.) But that this was done by Divine interposition he affirms, by immediately afterwards adding, And have ye not read this Scripture, The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone in the corner? As if he had said, how is this prophecy to be fulfilled, save in that Christ, being rejected and slain by you, is to be preached to the Gentiles, who will believe on Him? Thus then as a corner stone, He will found the two people on Himself, and of the two people will build for Himself a city of the faithful, one temple. For the masters of the synagogue, whom He had just called husbandmen, He now calls builders, because the same persons, who seemed to cultivate His people, that they might bear the fruits of life, like a vineyard, were also commanded to construct and adorn this people, to be, as it were, a house worthy to have God for its inhabitant.
(ubi sup.) But the Chief Priests showed that those things which the Lord had spoken were true; which is proved from what follows: And they sought to lay hold on him; for He Himself is the heir, whose unjust death He said was to be revenged by the Father. Again, in a moral sense, each of the faithful, when the Sacrament of Baptism is intrusted to him, receives on hire a vineyard, which he is to cultivate. But the servant sent to him is evil intreated, beaten, and cast out, when the word is heard by him and despised, or, what is worse, even blasphemed; further, he kills, as far as in him lies, the heir, who has trampled under foot the Son of God. The evil husbandman is destroyed, and the vineyard given to another, when the humble shall be enriched with that gift of grace, which the proud man has scorned. And it happens daily in the Church, that the Chief Priests wishing to lay hands on Jesus, are held back by the multitude, when some one, who is a brother only in name, either blushes or fears to attack the unity of the faith of the Church, and of its peace, though he loves it not, on account of the number of good brethren who dwell together within it.
Or, the hedge is the law, which prohibited their mingling with strangers. There follows, And went into a far country.
Or else, By the first servant, understand the prophets who lived about the time of Elias, (2 Chron. 18:23.) for Zedekiah the false prophet beat Micaiah; and by the second servant whom they wounded in the head, that is, evil entreated, we may understand the prophets who lived about the time of Hosea and Isaiah; but by the third servant understand the prophets who flourished about the time of Daniel and Ezekiel. It goes on, Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, Perchance they will reverence my son.
Or else, He said this not as though He were ignorant of what was to happen, but to show what it was right and fitting that they should do. But those husbandmen said amongst themselves, This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.
That is, without Jerusalem, for the Lord was crucified out of the city.
The Lord of the vineyard then is the Father of the Son who was slain, and the Son Himself is He who was slain, who will destroy those husbandmen, by giving them up to the Romans, and who will give the people to other husbandmen, that is, to the Apostles. Read the Acts of the Apostles, and you will find three thousand, and five thousand on a sudden believing and bearing fruit to God.
The stone then which the builders refused, the same has become the head-stone of the corner, that is, of the Church. For the Church is, as it were, the corner, joining together Jews and Gentiles; and this corner has been made by the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes, that is, in the eyes of the faithful; for miracles meet with detraction from the faithless. The Church indeed is wonderful, as it were resting on wonders, for the Lord worked with the Apostles, and confirmed the word with signs. And this is what is meant, when it is said, This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
(non occ.) After the Lord had closed the mouths of His tempters by a wise question, He next shows their wickedness in a parable; wherefore it is said: And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard.
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SUMMARY
Mark 12:3, from the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, dramatically illustrates the escalating rebellion of the tenant farmers against the vineyard owner. This verse depicts the initial violent encounter where the vinedressers seized, beat, and then contemptuously dismissed the owner's first servant, sending him away empty-handed. This act of defiance foreshadows the historical rejection of God's prophets and, most poignantly, the suffering and rejection that Jesus Himself would endure at the hands of the religious authorities.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Mark 12:3 is an integral part of the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, which Jesus delivers in the temple courts shortly after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and His cleansing of the temple. This parable immediately follows a direct challenge to Jesus' authority by the chief priests, scribes, and elders, as recorded in Mark 11:27-33. Jesus uses this allegory to expose the spiritual bankruptcy and rebellious hearts of the religious leaders who sought to usurp God's authority and inheritance. The verse describes the first instance of the vinedressers' escalating violence and contempt for the owner's rightful claims, setting the stage for the even more egregious acts that follow.
Historical & Cultural Context: The imagery of a vineyard was deeply resonant with Jesus' Jewish audience, as it was a common biblical metaphor for Israel (e.g., Isaiah 5:1-7). The practice of tenant farming was also well-understood; landowners would often lease their vineyards to tenants in exchange for a share of the produce. The expectation was that the tenants would faithfully render the owner's due. The actions of the vinedressers in the parable—seizing, beating, and sending away the servant empty—were not only illegal but profoundly insulting and rebellious, demonstrating a clear intent to claim ownership and deny the master his rightful share. This reflects the historical pattern of Israel's leaders rejecting the prophets God sent to call His people to repentance and obedience.
Key Themes: Mark 12:3 contributes significantly to several major themes within the Gospel of Mark and broader biblical theology. Firstly, it highlights the theme of rejection of divine authority, as the vinedressers refuse to acknowledge the owner's rightful claim and instead resort to violence against his messengers. Secondly, it underscores the pattern of prophetic persecution, reflecting a long history in Israel where God's messengers were met with hostility and even death (e.g., Nehemiah 9:26). Thirdly, the verse vividly foreshadows the suffering of Christ, as the treatment of the servant directly prefigures the physical abuse, humiliation, and ultimate rejection that Jesus, the "beloved Son" (Mark 12:6), would soon endure at the hands of the very religious leaders to whom He was speaking.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Mark 12:3 employs several significant literary devices. The entire passage is an Allegory, where the characters and actions represent deeper spiritual realities. The vineyard symbolizes Israel, the owner represents God, the vinedressers are the religious leaders of Israel, and the servants are God's prophets. The actions described in this verse—the seizing, beating, and sending away empty—serve as powerful Foreshadowing of the escalating rejection and suffering that God's subsequent messengers, and ultimately His Son, Jesus, would experience. The repetition of such acts throughout the parable builds a sense of tragic inevitability, highlighting the deep-seated rebellion against God's authority.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Mark 12:3 serves as a stark reminder of humanity's persistent tendency to reject divine authority and God's gracious overtures. The vinedressers' actions reflect a deep-seated rebellion against the rightful owner, a refusal to acknowledge God's sovereignty over His creation and His people. This verse is not merely a historical account within a parable but a timeless illustration of what happens when those entrusted with spiritual stewardship prioritize their own desires and power over God's will. It underscores the profound patience of God, who continues to send messengers despite repeated rejection, yet also warns of the inevitable consequences for persistent disobedience and hostility towards His divine claims. The "empty" return of the servant symbolizes the spiritual barrenness and lack of fruit produced by those who reject God's truth.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Mark 12:3 challenges us to examine our own hearts and our posture towards God's authority. Are we like the vinedressers, seeking to usurp control over what God has entrusted to us, or are we faithful stewards who acknowledge His ownership and produce the fruit He desires? This verse calls us to profound humility and submission, reminding us that true spiritual fruitfulness comes from recognizing God as the ultimate owner and faithfully responding to His Word and His messengers. It prompts us to consider how we treat those who speak God's truth, even when it challenges our comfort zones or exposes our shortcomings. The parable warns against spiritual entitlement and the grave danger of rejecting God's claims on our lives, urging us instead to cultivate a spirit of receptivity and obedience, ensuring that we do not send God's messengers "away empty" by our unresponsiveness.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who do the "vinedressers" in the parable represent, and why did they act this way?
Answer: The "vinedressers" primarily represent the religious leaders of Israel in Jesus' day—the chief priests, scribes, and elders—who were challenging His authority when He told this parable (Mark 11:27-33). Their actions of seizing, beating, and sending away the servants empty, and eventually killing the son, symbolize their historical rejection of God's prophets and their ultimate rejection and murder of Jesus Himself. They acted this way out of a desire to usurp the vineyard's inheritance for themselves, driven by greed, pride, and a profound rebellion against God's rightful ownership and authority over His people, Israel (the vineyard, as seen in Isaiah 5:1-7).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Mark 12:3, detailing the initial violent rejection of the owner's servant, finds its profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Himself. While the servant in the parable represents the prophets sent before Him, Jesus is the "beloved Son" (Mark 12:6) whom the Father ultimately sent. The beating and empty dismissal of the servant vividly foreshadow Jesus' own passion, where He was seized (Mark 14:46), beaten and scourged (Mark 15:15), and ultimately crucified outside the city, seemingly "empty" of worldly power or success, abandoned by many, and bearing the full weight of humanity's sin (Isaiah 53:5). However, unlike the servant who returned empty, Jesus' apparent emptiness on the cross was the very means by which He secured the ultimate harvest: the redemption of humanity. His death was not a defeat but the decisive act that fulfilled the Father's will and established a new covenant. Through His resurrection and ascension, the rejected Son became the victorious Lord, the "cornerstone" (Mark 12:10-11) of God's new spiritual vineyard, the Church (Matthew 16:18), ensuring that the Father's inheritance would be secured and His fruit would be borne through His faithful people.