So when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
With this question Jesus addresses the listeners so that they themselves may pass judgment concerning the servants in the parable, though in reality it refers to them, or also to them. The master of the house—God—is a symbol of the coming judgment, when He will demand an account from the keepers of His vineyard, that is, the guardians of God’s kingdom. This word is not only the parable’s internal question, but also a call to justice, showing that God’s patience has a limit. When a person or a people abuses grace and rejects the Son of God, judgment becomes unavoidable. In this way Jesus leads the hearers to self-judgment, allowing them with their own lips to condemn their inaction and arrogance.