NOTES for Mar 12:1-12
Hearing this parable, one is struck by how wisely and thoroughly the owner established this vineyard. It had everything needed to produce a good harvest and make wine from it. Only one thing in it was not good enough—the tenants. These hired workers, to whom the owner had entrusted his vineyard only for a time, somehow decided that it belonged to them. At first they simply refused to hand over the harvest, apparently believing that the effort they had spent obtaining it justified them. Besides, they knew better themselves how to process the fruit and turn it into fine wine. In the end, these people appropriate not only the vineyard but also the life of their master’s heir.
Christ teaches us that everything we “think we have” does not belong to us. Everything is a gift of God, entrusted to us so that in due time He may come and take the fruit that belongs to Him by right as its owner. Yet how often we forget this, believing that we know much better what we need and why. How often, after fulfilling something to which He calls us, we decide that we have understood the complex design. And if something does not fit our orderly picture of the divine plan, we are ready to make an attempt on the life of Jesus in our heart.