But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will respect my son.
All Commentaries on Matthew 21:37 Go To Matthew 21
John Chrysostom
AD 407
But what does it mean that “it may be that they will have reverence for my son”? This is not the language of an ignorant man. Away with the thought! Rather, it is the language of one desiring to show the sin to be great and inexcusable. For though he himself knew that they would slay him, he sent him. When he says “they will respect,” he states what ought to have been done, that it was their duty to have reverenced him. Elsewhere he says similarly: “whether they hear or refuse to hear.” He is not ignorant of their motives. But lest any of the obstinate should say that his prediction was the thing that necessitated their disobedience, therefore he frames his expressions in a particular way, using indeterminate terms like “whether they will” and “it may be.” For though they had been obstinate towards his servants, yet they ought to have reverenced the dignity of the Son. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
