The Parable of the Wicked Tenants in Context ... - Get a Free Blog

the context of the Parable as being especially concerned with Jesus' judgment against the Temple
establishment is well attested in other Jewish interpretations, namely 4QpIsa b , 4Q500 and the
Targumic version of the Song. 124 What we are left with is a plausibly Jewish interpretation of the
Song of the Vineyard with the addition of Jesus' understanding of his own role within the story
as the final climactic prophet facing the climactic rejection in the tradition of rejected prophets.
I submit that this paper has not proven the originality of this parable as it exists in the
synoptic context. It must be regarded as a fallacy to assume that lining up a convincing number
of 'criteria' somehow proves the case for any given text. 125 Instead, all we can do is make a case
for the plausibility of any pericope given what we know of Jesus' historical situation and what
we believe to be an accurate overall picture of him. 126 That being said, what this paper has strived
to show is that the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, as it exists in its synoptic context fits these
criteria quite well. It is both plausibly Jewish enough to fit Jesus' context and plausibly controversial
enough to explain the following effect of Jesus' consequent crucifixion and the belief of
the early Christian faith. Whether or not we see some of the synoptic elements of the Parable as
later additions or not, I submit that the original Parable as Jesus told it both looked like the synoptic
version of the Parable and conveyed the same meaning.
124
Cf. Brook, "4Q500," 260; Baumgarten, "4Q500," 6; Evans, "How Septuagintal," 108-09.
125
Cf. Meyer's abandoning the hard-line language of criteria for the "more modest term 'indeces'" (Critical
Realism, 130).
126
Thus I find myself within the framework of Critical Realism. See Meyer, Critical Realism; Wright, New
Testament, 31-46, and also 61-69; and Dunn, Jesus, 110-11.
29