This parable and the previous pericope deal with the same question. What right does Jesus have to speak to our situation?

The civil and religious rulers were one and the same called the Sanhedrin made up of Chief Priest, scribes, and elders. 

People doing religious acts and teachings would appeal to the religious authority of another. The religious leaders ask Jesus whose authority he appeals to. Their hearts are not sincere. They have already decided what is true and their questions are just a pretense to prove their stance. 

Jesus answers their question with a question; a common rabbinic tradition. Answering “I don’t know” was supper embarrassing, but that isn’t the point of this pericope. It is about the unwillingness to acknowledge God’s authority even when it is clear. Jesus answers their question by making the crowd think about John the Baptist and what he taught about Jesus. 

The root of the question is, “who gives you the right…?” Jesus still makes demands on his followers that are hard and challenging. We are equally dismissive when we come up against the challenge of Jesus. Instead of angrily asking questions we quietly ignore. 

The listeners realize that Jesus’ parable is about them, that they are about to lose their position and status and they declare, “surely not” or “how dare you!”

This parable isn’t to illuminate a moral principle or explain what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. Unlike other parables it is meant to reveal the current situation so unlike other parables it has more than one surface meaning. It is a prophetic story revealing how Israel has responded to God and what they will do to the Messiah. Jesus redefines what being Israel means. He tells them they can no longer presume their status by their genetics. 

The religious leaders would have heard that they are just hired hands and are getting too big for their britches. They aren’t giving to God what is owed to God. They saw themselves as ultimately in charge instead of God. No one has ever wanted to grasp at God’s authority for altruistic reasons. Our desire to get God’s authority out is for our own selfishness and pride. James 5 calls out wealthy land owners that are harsh and greedy and mean. This was a common scenario for a landowner to lease out their land and be greedy. Jesus’ parable of a benevolent and patient land owner would have been surprising. Two mistakes we make about God is that he is either too quick to judge and harsh or that he is incapable or unwilling to judge. 

This parable reveals who Jesus is: 

1. He directly tells them that he is the Son of God. He knew what was coming. 

2. He knew he would be killed. 

3. He had certainty of God’s ultimate triumph over wickedness.