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. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What (then) will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture passage: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?" 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. (Mk 12:1-12)
In this parable Jesus is conscious of who he is and what his mission is and the out come of the mission would be. The people of Israel believed themselves to be the vineyard of God (Is 5: 1ff; Ps 80:15ff). Jesus was aware that he was the son sent by God to work in the vineyard to bring to produce good wine. This consciousness of being the son of God was also accompanied by the facts; the way he was treated by the leaders and how he would be treated in the days to come.
Not only Jesus was aware that he was the son of God; the listeners were also aware that he was talking about them. Usually the parables were revealing some hidden messages about the kingdom and the disciples needed explanations after the narration of the parable. Here the listeners, probably the leaders, understood that he was talking about them so they went away angry and they did not do anything to Jesus because of the crowd.
'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes' (Ps 118: 20) Jesus entered into the mindset of the Psalmist to thank the Lord for the great things done to Israel. It is a song of victory. (Does the author of the Psalm imply the stone used by the David to defeat the Philistines? Such stones will not be used for buildings. Here it becomes the cornerstone). It is the work of God.
