Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas - Mark
CHAP . 12
12:1–12
1. And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
2. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.
3. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
4. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
5. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
6. Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
7. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our’s.
8. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
9. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
10. And have ye not read this Scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:
11. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
12. And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
GLOSS . (non occ.) After the Lord had closed the mouths of His tempters by a wise question, He next shews their wickedness in a parable; wherefore it is said: And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard.
PSEUDO-JEROME . God the Father is called a man by a human conception. The vineyard is the house of Israel; the hedge is the guardianship of Angels; the winefat is the law, the tower is the temple, and the husbandmen, the priests.
BEDE . (in Marc. 3, 42) Or else, the hedge is the wall of the city, the winefat is the altar, or1 those winefats, by which three psalms receive their name.
THEOPHYLACT . Or, the hedge is the law, which prohibited their mingling with strangers. There follows, And went into a far country.
BEDE . (ubi sup.) Not by any change of place, but He seemed to go away from the vineyard, that He might leave the husbandmen to act on their own freewill. It goes on: And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.
PSEUDO-JEROME . The servants who were sent were the prophets, the fruit of the vineyard is obedience; some of the prophets were beaten, others wounded, others slain. Wherefore it goes on, And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
BEDE . (ubi sup.) By the servant who was first sent, we must understand Moses, but they beat him, and sent him away empty, because they angered Moses in the tents. (Ps. 106:6) There follows, And again he sent unto them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. This other servant means David and the other Psalmists, but they wounded Him in the head and shamefully handled him, because they despised the songs of the Psalmists and rejected David himself, saying, What portion have we in David? (1 Kings 12:16) It goes on, And he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; heating some, and killing some. By the third servant and his companions, understand the band of the prophets. But which of the prophets did they not persecute? In these three kinds of servants, as the Lord Himself elsewhere pronounces, may be included in a figure all the doctors under the law, when He says, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. (Luke 24:44)
THEOPHYLACT . Or else, By the first servant, understand the prophets who lived about the time of Elias, (2 Chron. 18:23.) for Zedekiah the false prophet beat Micaiah; and by the second servant whom they wounded in the head, that is, evil entreated, we may understand the prophets who lived about the time of Hosea and Isaiah; but by the third servant understand the prophets who flourished about the time of Daniel and Ezekiel. It goes on, Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, Perchance they will reverence my son.
PSEUDO-JEROME . The well-beloved son and the last is the Only-begotten; and in that He says, They will reverence my son, He speaks in irony.
BEDE . (ubi sup.) Or else, this is not said in ignorance, but God is said to doubt, that freedom of will may be left to man.