let it not be!" (Luke 20:16).

The chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, and elders of the people looked at everyone maliciously, as if they were convicted criminals. Jesus' final words about the first parable left no doubt in them that the second would also expose their iniquities; the content of this second parable was so transparent that the leaders and corrupters of the Jewish people had to recognize themselves in the wicked husbandmen; they should have guessed that Jesus also knew their decision to kill Him. Yes, they undoubtedly understood that the vineyard of the parable refers to the Jewish people chosen by God, the care of which is entrusted by the Owner of the vineyard, God, to the chief priests and the leaders of the people (the husbandmen)

In short, the meaning of the parable was clear to them, as it is now to us; but if they had given the people the slightest hint that they recognized themselves in the face of wicked tenants, they would probably have seized the stones and slain them all. It was this fear of the people that doubled their shamelessness and impudence, and they, in order to show everyone that the parable had nothing to do with them, in response to Jesus' question:

So when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these tenants? They answered: "There is no doubt that

these evildoers will be given over to cruel punishment, and the vineyard will be given to other tenants, who will give him fruits in due time."

These evildoers pronounced a sentence on themselves, which was soon carried out: the government of the Jewish people was taken away from them; the right to be conductors of the will of God among the Jews and pagans who came to the Jerusalem temple was also taken away, since the temple was destroyed, and the people, scattered throughout the earth, ceased to exist as a people.

We are talking about the stone rejected by the builders

Continuing His rebuke, Jesus asked: "