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Mark 12 · a question people ask

In the parable, who is the beloved son?

In the text

Mark doesn't say. Jesus tells the parable to "them" (12:1), and Mark tells only what they made of it: "they perceived that he spoke the parable against them" (12:12). He doesn't name the servants, the son, or the "others" who will be given the vineyard (12:9). And this time Mark sets down no explanation from Jesus, as he did for the farmer's parable (4:13-20). The chapter leaves the parable in its own words, and so do these notes.

The verses

“He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.”
Mark 12:1 · World English Bible
“What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.”
Mark 12:9 · World English Bible
“They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him and went away.”
Mark 12:12 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Mark 12

Mark 12: Not far from God’s Kingdom

When Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, quoted Moses to him, Jesus answered from Moses too: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob", and "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (12:26-27). And asked for the greatest commandment, he gave two: love God with everything, and your neighbor as yourself (12:29-31).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions