Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen
The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen is found in three out of the four Canonical gospels (Luke 20:9-19, Mark 12:1-12, and Matthew 21:33-46), and in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas. It describes a householder planting a vineyard and letting it out to husbandmen, who failed in their duty.
This parable was about chief priests and Pharisees and was given to the people present in the Temple during the final week before the death of Jesus.
He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “May this never be!” Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. (Luke 20:9-19)
The description of the vineyard is from Isaiah. Using a vineyard as a metaphor to describe Israel was a common practice for religious discourse at the time. It could also be God's covenant, or perhaps the world itself. The produce made at the vineyard might be a metaphor for all the good produced by the people, which the authorities are not sharing with God, and trying to keep for themselves.The produce of the vineyard might also be the people themselves, as people are what the government tends.
The owner of the vineyard is God and the son is Jesus. A common interpretation of the servants is that of the Jewish prophets, although they could be all of God's preceding messengers. The meaning of the "others" who will be given the vineyard is debated. Some proposed interpretations have seen them as other Jews, or Christians, or maybe even the Jewish Christians. They are usually seen as the new Christian community.
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