Jesus said unto them,
Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
All Commentaries on Matthew 21:42 Go To Matthew 21
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Then that they might learn that not only the nature of justice requires these things, but even from the beginning the grace of the Spirit had foretold them, and God had so decreed, He both added a prophecy, and reproves them in a way to put them to shame, saying, Did ye never read, The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes; by all things showing, that they should be cast out for unbelief, and the Gentiles brought in. This He darkly intimated by the Canaanitish woman also; this again by the ass, and by the centurion, and by many other parables; this also now.
Wherefore He added too, This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes, declaring beforehand that the believing Gentiles, and as many of the Jews as should also themselves believe, shall be one, although the difference between them had been so great before.
Then, that they might learn that nothing was opposed to God's will of the things doing, but that the event was even highly acceptable, and beyond expectation, and amazing every one of the beholders (for indeed the miracle was far beyond words), He added and said, It is the Lord's doing. And by the stone He means Himself, and by builders the teachers of the Jews; as Ezekiel also says, They that build the wall, and daub it with untempered mortar. Ezekiel 13:10 But how did they reject Him? By saying, This man is not of God; John 9:16 This man deceives the people; John 7:12 and again, You are a Samaritan, and hast a devil. John 8:48
