But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
The words of the tenants reveal the deliberate nature of their sin. They recognize the heir, but that recognition does not lead them to obedience, but to even greater hostility. This shows the condition of the religious leaders, who saw Christ’s authority, His miracles, and the power of His word over the people, yet out of envy and a desire for self-rule decided to reject Him. The phrase “The inheritance will be ours” is the dreadful deception of the human heart: a person thinks he can take God’s place and keep authority without God. Yet by rejecting the Son of God, no one gains an inheritance, but loses the very thing he thought he had secured and strengthened.