“Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.”
He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, they will respect my son — the son's sending is the escalation beyond the servants: not another prophet but the son, the beloved (agapēton, the same word as at the baptism and transfiguration — you are my beloved Son). The owner's reasoning (they will respect my son) is not naive but the expression of what should be the response to the son's higher authority. The self-evident claim of the son's greater dignity is precisely what the tenants will violate.
Church Fathers on Mark 12:6
After the Lord had closed the mouths of His tempters by a wise question, He next shews their wickedness in a parable.
God the Father is called a man by a human conception. The vineyard is the house of Israel; the hedge is the guardianship of Angels; the winefat is the law, the tower is the temple, and the husbandmen, the priests.
Or else, the hedge is the wall of the city, the winefat is the altar, or those winefats, by which three psalms receive their name.
Read all 22 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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