Mark 12:9
What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
In the parable the vineyard represents the world, and this vineyard imagery used in the Saviour's parables repays careful study. The husbandmen are Israel's priests and teachers. When the question of what the lord of the vineyard would do was put, the Jewish leaders themselves pronounced the sentence, that the wicked husbandmen would be destroyed and the vineyard transferred to other husbandmen who would render its fruit.
The judgment came because of rejection and cruel treatment of God's messengers, culminating in the killing of His Son. The husbandmen were guilty in withholding the fruit and face the lord's judgment, because their misleading teaching deprived God of the service due Him and turned the nation away from Christ. By rejecting Christ and resisting the law of God they made themselves responsible for the nation's sin and ruin.
The vineyard with its privileges and resources was taken from the Jewish nation and given to others. It had been entrusted for unselfish service throughout the world, not to be concentrated in favored fields while other parts remained unworked. Unfaithful stewardship can lead the Lord to remove the trust from those who fail and give it to others, so that the vineyard's blessings advance His work throughout the world.
The parable applies not only to the Jewish nation but also to the church in the present generation, to which God has given great privileges and blessings and from which He expects corresponding returns. Those entrusted with the Lord's vineyard are accountable to Him for faithfully returning its fruits and caring for every part of it. Unfaithful stewardship can lead Him to remove the trust and give it to others so that its blessings advance His work.
In its present application, religious teachers who lead people to disregard God's law withhold from God the fruits of love, humility, and self-sacrificing service, just as the Jewish leaders did. God regards such teachers as unfaithful servants.