Listen to another parable: there was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went to a foreign country.
This parable describes the relationship between God and His people. The landowner represents God, the vineyard represents the kingdom of God or the people of Israel whom the Lord planted and fenced in with the law, and the tenants represent the religious leaders to whom God entrusted His spiritual work. The fence represents the law, by which the protection and boundaries of God’s people are defined; the winepress (a simple hut built in vineyards for the gardener) represents the place of sacrifice as a symbol of salvation; and the tower represents prophetic watchfulness and spiritual protection. The landowner’s departure shows God’s trust in man, giving him freedom to serve. Yet, as we will see next, this parable shows the negligence and injustice with which people treated God’s grace. In this way Jesus prepares the listeners to understand that Israel’s leaders did not preserve the vineyard entrusted to them, and soon it will be taken away and given to others.