DP #7: (Mis)Reading the Parable of the Wicked Tenants

In order to really understand the parable of the wicked tenants (as with all parables) it is important to read the context and understand that Jesus is talking about the significance of his authority, but even more than that, he is addressing his role as a political activist empowered by the need for change (as he refuses to acknowledge that it is the will of the celestial in Mark 11:33. While both the priests and the modern readers may easily misinterpret the parable as an assertion that the evil tenants, those who kill and harm and exploit an opportunity given to them, it seems clear from the context of Jesus' life as an anti-Roman social activist that he is talking specifically about the Romans. It is the Romans, after all, who came into the land of Israel (or Abraham, or whatever patriarch we choose to name it after) and stole the gifts, killing anyone willing to take out a fair sum for the landlord, who is clearly God. Jesus is foreshadowing his role as the son who falls at the hands of the merciless, spiteworthy tenants (the Romans).