Absentee landlords who rented out their land to tenant farmers were common in Palestine. In the parable of the wicked tenant farmers (20:9–19) the obvious allegorical features are sometimes held to be a creation of the early church, but there is no reason why Jesus could not have used an allegory. The end of the parable (20:19) tells us that the parable is directed against the religious leaders. They have been given the responsibility to tend the vineyard (symbolizing Israel; cf. Isa. 5:1–7). When the owner of the vineyard desires to collect some of the fruit, he sends messengers (representing the prophets). In each case the messengers are wounded and ousted. The repetition of the same pattern three times is for rhetorical purposes, building the narrative to a climax. The owner of the vin…