The parable of the tenants (3)

The parable of the tenants (3)

But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. (Mark 12:3)

The kingdom of God is the dominant theme in most of parables narrated by Jesus. Some of the parables are: The parable of mustard (Mark 4:30-32), the parable of the wedding banquet (Matt. 22:1-10), the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7), the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32) etc.

Jesus teaches us the kingdom of heaven through parables because we cannot easily understand its meaning. The kingdom of heaven indicates God. God exists as the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of heaven indicates the rule of God. God, the kingdom of heaven and the rule of God have the same concept. Just as we cannot look at the sun directly so we cannot also understand the kingdom of God directly.

The word we cannot recognize God or the kingdom heaven and his rule imply two meanings at the same time. First, God is not a definite object of existence. It means God is opened in eschatological. Second, God is a perfect being as he is. It means God includes the entire history including the end when the universal history will decide. How can we describe such almighty God with our limited word?

The parable of the tenants in this text explains not only about the kingdom of heaven but also points out the disobedience of the high priest, the scribes and the elders, representative of Israel. So there is a detailed description and anyone can easily understand the content of the parable. It may be compared with people’s unawareness of the parable of the kingdom of God.

However, verse 3 says that the tenants seize him, beat him and send him away empty-handed. It is a serious violence against an innocent. It is not important to discuss on this matter at length because such things often happened in the history of humankind. It is a question for us to ask, “What duration of revolution is required for human to give up violence?”