“But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.”
But the tenants said to one another, this is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours — the tenants' logic is the logic of murderous greed: kill the heir and the property passes to us (through adverse possession or some similar expectation). The recognition of the son (this is the heir) is the most damning detail: they know who he is and kill him anyway. The chief priests and teachers of the law who hear this parable know that Jesus is speaking about them (verse 12) — and they know that they know who he is.
Church Fathers on Mark 12:7
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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