Nathan and His Parable

Parables can speak the truth powerfully when appropriately said. David had stolen the wife of his hired soldier, a foreigner he was to shelter in his kingdom. Nathan wanted to rebuke David without losing his life. He told David a parable of a man with plenty of sheep, who, when his friend visited him and wanted to feed him a good meal, stole his neighbor’s only and beloved lamb and killed it and fed his friend. David was furious and wanted revenge on that wicked man, only to find that he was that wicked man (2 Sam 12:1–10).

Centuries later, the Lord Jesus used a similar parable to tell the religious leaders in Jerusalem the truth about their hatred towards him:

“A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it. He built a wine-pressing trench and solidified the trench with fiery rocks. Then he rented the vineyard to the farmers and went on a journey.” (Mark 12:1)

In modern days, wine comes in bottles or barrels. But if we were to visit one of those ancient winepresses, we wouldn’t be surprised by how detailed Jesus was.

When the time came for the wine, the master sent several servants one by one (12:2). The farmers beat the first and sent him back (12:3). The second, they decapitated (ek “out” kafele “head”) and shamed him (12:4). Perhaps this was an allusion to John who was beheaded. Another, they killed (12:5). And many more, they beat and killed (12:5). The farmers were relentless – they didn’t want the master to have the wine from the vineyard. Finally, the master sent his “one son, whom he loved,” thinking the farmers wouldn’t shame his son but listen to him (12:6). On the contrary, the farmers said to themselves that if they killed him, the heir, the vineyard would be theirs (12:7). They killed him and threw him outside of the vineyard (12:8).

Saying this parable, Jesus asked,

“What will the master of the vineyard do? Will he not come, destroy the farmers, and give the vineyard to others?” (12:9)

The religious leaders knew the answer to this rhetorical question – he was referring to them (12:12). But they feared the crowd and didn’t want to arrest him. They left him and walked away.

Jesus, in the meantime, returned to the psalm the people sang on the sorrowful and triumphal march from Bethany to Jerusalem, Psalm 117.

“The stone which the builders rejected had become the keystone.

This was YHWH’s doing – marvelous in our eyes.” (Ps 117:22–23; Mark 12:10–11)

A keystone is a small stone at the top of the arch that holds the entire structure together like a puzzle. I can’t explain, but my architectural friend used wooden blocks to show me how the keystone holds the whole structure together. For a sample of the keystone’s importance, see around time 1.22 of this video (https://study.com/learn/lesson/the-roman-arch-architecture-construction-history.html).

Only God YHWH can take a simple person that others reject and make him or her the keystone of his work. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth, David, Esther . . . were all examples of this. So was Jesus. Whereas the leaders considered him a worker who needed to be beaten, killed and tossed out of the vineyard, God considered him his beloved son. So, he would replace the farmers.

We might not be oppressed and persecuted as Jesus was. Nevertheless, God can still use us as a keystone that holds together something vital.