The Story of the Evil Farmers^(A)

12 [Then] Jesus began ·to use stories to teach the people [^Lto speak to them in parables; see 3:23]. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a ·hole [vat; pit] for a winepress and built a tower [^Cto protect against thieves; see Is. 5:1–7 for the background to this parable]. Then he leased the land to some [^Ctenant] farmers and left for a trip [^Cthe owner represents God, the farmers are Israel’s religious leaders]. ² When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent a ·servant [slave] to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. ³ But the farmers grabbed ·the servant [^Lhim] and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.