The people were startled at the conclusion of Jesus’ parable. They did not want to believe that God would allow his son to be killed by selfish and corrupt tenants and that, in response, he would kill the tenants and give the vineyard to someone else. The prophets often used a vineyard to represent Israel. So they understood Jesus well.
They believed that God loved Israel. So they could not believe God would do such a thing as this. They accepted that he punished their ancestors by sending them into captivity in Babylon. But they believed that they were not like their ancestors. They were good. Besides, what Jesus was saying was worse than the Babylonian experience. They shouted, “May this never be!” (16b)
Jesus wanted to help them accept that if they do not repent, they would perish. So he quoted Psalm 118:22. “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” (17a) Luke and Matthew 21:44 add Jesus’ commentary on that verse. This is an allusion to execution by stoning according to the Mosaic law.
The place of stoning was twice as high as a man. While standing on a scaffold (platform), one of the witnesses struck the culprit on the loins, so that he fell off the scaffold. If he died by the stroke and fall, all is done. If not, the other witness threw a stone upon his heart and finished him. That stone thrown on the culprit was in some cases as much as two men could lift up.
