And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
All Commentaries on Matthew 21:44 Go To Matthew 21
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Then, that they might know that the penalty is not limited to their being cast out, He added the punishments also, saying, Every one that falls on this stone, shall be broken; but upon whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. He speaks here of two ways of destruction, one from stumbling and being offended; for this is, Whosoever falls on this stone: but another from their capture, and calamity, and utter destruction, which also He clearly foretold, saying, It will grind him to powder. By these words He darkly intimated His own resurrection also.
Now the Prophet Isaiah says, that He blames the vineyard, but here He accuses in particular the rulers of the people. And there indeed He says, What ought I to have done to my vineyard, that I did not; Isaiah 5:4 and elsewhere again, What transgression have your fathers found in me? Jeremiah 2:5 And again, O my people, what have I done unto you? And wherein have I grieved you? Micah 6:3 showing their thankless disposition, and that when in the enjoyment of all things, they requited it by the contraries; but here He expresses it with yet greater force. For He does not plead, Himself, saying, What ought I to have done that I have not done? but brings in themselves to judge, that nothing has been wanting, and to condemn themselves. For when they say, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, they say nothing else than this, publishing their sentence with much greater force.
With this Stephen also upbraids them, which thing most of all stung them, that having enjoyed always much providential care, they requited their benefactor with the contraries, which very thing itself was a very great sign, that not the punisher, but the punished, were the cause of the vengeance brought upon them.
This here likewise is shown, by the parable, by the prophecy. For neither was He satisfied with a parable only, but added also a twofold prophecy, one David's, the others from Himself.
What then ought they to have done on hearing these things? Ought they not to have adored, to have marvelled at the tender care, that shown before, that afterwards? But if by none of these things they were made better, by the fear of punishment at any rate ought they not to have been rendered more temperate?
