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The Tenants

Data

(1) Thom 65
(2) Mark 12:1-9,12 = Matt 21:33-42,43-46 = Luke 20:9-16,19
(3) HermSim 5.2:4-7

 

Texts

(1) Thom 65

/65:1/ He said, A [. . .] person owned a vineyard and rented it to some farmers, so they could work it and he could collect its crop from them. /2/He sent his slave so the farmers would give him the vineyard's crop. /3/They grabbed him, beat him, and almost killed him, and the slave returned and told his master. /4/His master said, "Perhaps he didn't know them." /5/He sent another slave, and the farmers beat that one as well. /6/Then the master sent his son and said, "Perhaps they'll show my son some respect." /7/Because the farmers knew that he was the heir to the vineyard, they grabbed him and killed him. /8/ Anyone here with two ears had better listen! [Complete Gospels]

(2) Mark 12:1-9,12 = Matt 21:33-42,43-46 = Luke 20:9-16,19

Mark 12:1-9,12
/12:1/ Then he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. /2/ When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. /3/ But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. /4/ And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. /5/ Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. /6/ He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' /7/ But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' /8/ So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. /9/ What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. … /12/ When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.

= Matt 21:33-41,45-46
/21:33/ Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. /34/ When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. /35/ But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. /36/ Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. /37/ Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' /38/ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance." /39/ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. /40/ Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" /41/ They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time." ... /45/ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. /46/ They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

= Luke 20:9-16,19
/20:9/ He began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. /10/ When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. /11/ Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. /12/ And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. /13/ Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' /14/ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, 'This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.' /15/ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? /16/ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "Heaven forbid!" … /19/ When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.


(3) HermSim 5.2:4-7

/5.2:1/ Listen to the parable I am about to tell you about fasting. /2/A certain person had a field and many slaves, and in a part of the field, cultivated a vineyard. The owner chose a slave who was trustworthy and pleasing to him, and when about to leave, the owner called him and said to him: ‘Take charge of this vineyard that I planted, build an enclosure for it, and, until I come, do nothing else to the vineyard. Keep this command of mine and you will have your freedom from me.’ Then the owner of the slave went away. /3/When the owner had gone, the slave enclosed the vineyard. When he had finished enclosing it, he saw that the vineyard was full of weeds. /4/He deliberated to himself saying: ‘I have completed the lord’s command. Now I will dig up this vineyard, and it will look better when it is dug; without weeds it will give better fruit, since the weeds will not be choking it.’ So he dug up the vineyard and pulled out all the weeds that were in it. That vineyard improved and was thriving without weeds choking it. /5/After a while, the owner of the slave and the vineyard returned and went to the vineyard. Seeing the vineyard nicely enclosed and even dug and weeded, and the vines thriving, he was extremely happy about what the slave did. /6/Calling his loved son whom he held as heir, and his friends whom he held as advisors, he told them what he had commanded the slave and what he found achieved. These congratulated the slave according to the testimony given by the owner. /7/He said to them: ‘I promised freedom to this slave if he kept the commandment I gave him. He kept my commandment and added good work to the vineyard, and so has pleased me greatly. In return for this work he has done, I want to make him joint heir with my son, for he appreciates the good and did not neglect it, but completed it.’ /8/The son of the owner was pleased with this opinion, that the slave would be joint heir with the son. /9/After several days the householder prepared a banquet and sent him much food from it. But the slave took the food sent from the owner, kept only what he needed, and distributed the rest of it to the other slaves. /10/His fellow slaves were very happy to receive the food and began to intercede on his behalf, that he might find great favor with the owner because he treated them in this way. /11/The owner heard all this and once again rejoiced over his behavior. Calling his friends and his son together once more, the owner told them what the slave had done with the food that he had received. They were even more pleased that the slave would be joint heir with the son. [Hermeneia, 170]

 

Notes

John Dominic Crossan

Item: 46
Stratum: I (30-60 CE)
Attestation: Triple
Historicity: +

Crossan [Historical Jesus, 351] proposes that this saying, along with its related saying 47 The Rejected Stone [1/3], originated as a story featuring a vineyard owner's son but told with no self-reference to Jesus. In the subsequent tradition the story was allegorized, with the story then developing in either of two directions. In the Similitudes we see the story transformed in a positive way, with the tenants and the son jointly inheriting the vineyard. Alternatively, if the death of the son was taken as an allegory for the death of Jesus then there needed to be some reference to the resurrection. Crossan suggests this was achieved by combining the story of the tenants with the saying about the rejected stone.

He then asks what the original form of this parable may have meant when spoken by Jesus:

It is not impossible, first of all, that Jesus could have told the parable about his own fate, as a metaphorical vision of his own possible death. After the execution of John, and in the context of what he himself was doing, such a prophecy required no transcendental information. Indeed, if the idea never crossed Jesus’ mind, he was being very naive indeed. I find that explanation less plausible, however, because I cannot see how its narrative logic coincides with the situation of Jesus himself. How, in terms of Jesus’ own life, would the tenants acquire the vineyard by his murder? The story, on the other hand, is absolutely understandable as spoken to peasants who know all about absentee landlords and what they themselves have thought, wished, and maybe even planned. I am inclined, then, but somewhat tentatively, to read it as one of those places where the political situation breaks most obviously on the surface of the text. Presuming that the original parable ended with the son's death, how would a Galilean peasant audience have responded? May like this. Some: they did right. Others: but they will not get away with it. Some: he got what he deserved. Others: but what will the father do now? Some: that is the way to handle landlord. Others: but what about the soldiers?

 

Jesus Seminar

Text

Item

 Source

JS Mtg

%Red

%Pink

%Gray

%Black

W Avg

Color

Thom 65-66

49

K, T

86Red

17

31

14

38

0.43

Gray

Thom 65

49

K, T

87StP

14

64

14

9

0.61

Pink

Thom 66

49

K, T

87StP

0

0

0

100

0.00

Black

Mark 12:1-11

49

K, T

86Red

0

32

14

54

0.26

Gray

Mark 12:1-8

49

K, T

87StP

0

9

64

27

0.27

Gray

Mark 12:9-11

49

K, T

87StP

0

0

0

100

0.00

Black

Matt 21:33-43

49

K, T

86Red

0

24

17

59

0.22

Black

Matt 21:33-39

49

K, T

87StP

0

9

64

27

0.27

Gray

Matt 21:40-43

49

K, T

87StP

0

0

0

100

0.00

Black

Luke 20:9-18

49

K, T

86Red

0

25

14

61

0.21

Black

Luke 20:9-15a

49

K, T

87StP

0

9

64

27

0.27

Gray

Luke 9:15b-18

49

K, T

87StP

0

0

0

100

0.00

Black

Barn 6:4a

 49

K, T 

87StP 

0

0

0

100

0.00

Black

The commentary in The Five Gospels (p. 101) describes this parable as "the classic example of the predilection of the early Christian community to recast Jesus' parables as allegorical stories." The Seminar votes reflect a view that Thomas preserves a version of this parable closer to the original form.

 

Gerd Luedemann

Luedemann [Jesus, 81f] discounts the parable as an allegory based on Isaiah 5:1-7 and rejects attempts (such as Crossan above) to identify an original version that could be traced to Jesus:

As the tradition can be derived from the community, its degree of authenticity is nil. But it is often argued in favor of the historical authenticity of the passage that the imagery (e.g. the rebellious mood of tenants against the owner) is well-attested for the world of Jesus. However, this plausibility must not seduce us into historical conclusions.

 

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