Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 20:9

"And he began to speak unto the people this parable: A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country for a long time." — Luke 20:9 (ASV)

Then began he to speak to the people.—See Notes on Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1–12. The presence of this, as well as of the last section, in the first three Gospels, with so little variation, indicates the impression which these facts and teaching made at the time, and probably also that they occupied a prominent place in the early records that served as the basis of our present Gospels.

A certain man planted a vineyard.—The absence of the fuller detail in St. Matthew and St. Mark shows that St. Luke’s report was not derived from them, but probably from a version, orally repeated, of that which they reported more fully. On the other hand, the addition of for a long time is peculiar to St. Luke, and reminds us of the like phrase in Matthew 25:19.