Parables have a way of shaping our imagination. They are stories designed to give materiality to our concerns. When Jesus uses parables in the Gospels, he promises judgment upon people if they fail to heed his commandments. He offers a rich image of destruction with tangible consequences to the hearers. You do not want to be on the receiving end of Jesus’ parabolic ministry.
But parables often summarize phases of history. This is the case in Mark 12. Jesus’ parable is more than mere condemnation of the religious leaders, they summarize Israel’s history of beating, ridiculing, and killing God’s servants, the prophets. As they have done to the servants of Yahweh, so will they do to Yahweh’s beloved Son.
Mark records Jesus’ familiarity with the parables of old in both Isaiah and Jeremiah. Jesus uses parables because the prophets parabolyzed in expectation of Jesus’ parables. The prophet’s condemnation through parables was only a type of the true parables to come. In Jesus, all parabolic instruction reaches its judgment crescendo.
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