The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone

 Then He began to tell the people this parable:  "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.  And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.  Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?  I will send my beloved son.  Probably they will respect him when they see him.'  But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'  So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."  And when they heard it they said, "Certainly not!"  Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:

'The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone'?

Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."

And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.

- Luke 20:9-19

On Saturday we read that, as Jesus taught the people in the temple in the days after His cleansing of it, and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, "Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things?  Or who is he who gave You this authority?"  But He answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?"  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."  So they answered that they did not know where it was from.  And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

 Then He began to tell the people this parable:  "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.  And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.  Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?  I will send my beloved son.  Probably they will respect him when they see him.'  But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'  So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."  We recall that the chief priests, scribes, and elders have come to confront Jesus about His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and His cleansing of the temple, asking Him, "By what authority do You do these things?"  They refused to answer His question acknowledging by what authority John baptized.   This parable, then, is a direct response  to them in return.   In the parable, the man represents God the Father, and the vineyard to God's people.  The vinedressers are these leaders of the Jews who are entrusted to care for the people.  We have to recall Jesus' own admonitions about leadership to His disciples; that in His Church, those who wish to be greatest must be servant to all.  They are to be good stewards.  Here in the parable, each servant that has been sent by the owner stands for an Old Testament prophet who comes to call people back to God.  The beloved son is Christ Himself.   My study bible says that the fact that the Son is cast out of the vineyard to be killed should be understood on two levels.  First, that Jesus was killed outside Jerusalem (Golgotha was outside the city walls, which in later centuries were moved to include the place of His Crucifixion inside the city).  Second, that Jesus was crucified by foreign soldiers, and not by those of His own vineyard.  The others who later receive the vineyard are the Gentiles who are brought into the Church.

And when they heard it they said, "Certainly not!"  Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone'?  Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.   Jesus quotes to them from Psalm 118:22.  That stone is Christ Himself.  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who comments here that this saying illustrates the two ways of destruction.  Those who fall on the stone are people who suffer the effects of their own sins while they are yet in this life.  Those on whom the stone falls are unrepentant people who become powder (completely lost) in the final judgment.

As Jesus is in Jerusalem, the tone of our readings comes to include the eschatological; that is, Jesus speaks of end times, and of Judgment.  Tied up with Jerusalem and its destruction (which Jesus has prophesied) is also the time of the end.  That is, the time in which we now live.  We often tend to think of end times prophesy as that which only applies to some unknown, uncertain, mysterious date.  But this isn't really true.  We are living in the time of the end at this time.  The time of the end was initiated with Jesus' Incarnation in the world, and particularly the central events of Holy Week which are yet to come in our current readings.  Between that time and His Return, we live in these "end times."  The Church lives in this period, in which we await and watch for His Return, and we remember what we, as good servants, are to be about.  It's His word that creates and builds Judgment in the world, the standard set down and heard.  His word gives us the understanding also that those of "other flocks" -- even those who've never heard of Christ -- will be seen according to what they do know and understand, the conscience.  Everybody is included in this truth.  The ancient people who first heard Christ's word and accepted it for themselves frequently built churches atop of ancient temples.  The modern mind often ascribes this simply to a desire to stamp out the old and replace it, but this isn't really true.  The ancient people, such as the Greeks who accepted Christianity, did not see their own culture as "bad" or "evil."  On the contrary, the significance of building a church where a temple once stood, or converting an existing temple (such as the Parthenon, which was a church for 1,000 years during the Byzantine Empire, dedicated to the Virgin Mary), was that Christ brought light and illumination to a world that was already grasping toward that light.  Rather than seeing the Church as mere replacement, the ancient world saw Christ as the Truth that more fully illumined the good that the ancient cultures were seeking without knowing Christ.  The fullness, for example, of the image of Athena the goddess of wisdom was manifest in the Virgin Mary, as one who is the queen of saints, the "All Holy" in the Greek Orthodox tradition, the one who submitted herself fully to God, and was chosen to be the human mother of God.  Her holiness becomes the strength that defends and comforts (and above all, loves), and prays for all in the fullness of the grace given to her.  As saint, the illumination given to her through grace is seen as manifest in myriad facets of her human personality (as evidenced in the varied icons of Mary), and millions of faithful have found strength through her as one of the faithful with whom we pray and of whom we ask intercession -- just as one would ask a friend to pray in times of difficulty and need.  Such is the evolution of the word in the world, the teachings of the Gospel, that we have to know ourselves as those who seek ultimately after the good that Christ brings into the world as fully human and fully God.  Those who have never heard the word are not misjudged or judged harshly, but rather by the good they know.  But having heard the word, what do we do with it?  Having had Christ as incarnate human being, how do we come to know Him, see Him, accept Him?  The truth that He brings is "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).  The word of Christ is that which penetrates everything we are to a  depth that we don't even know.  And in this is the Judgment borne out in the world.  This is the stone that is the head of the corner, upon which we may stumble -- and which may fall upon those of us who choose to deny its word and truth within ourselves.  It is, ultimately, grace at work in the world that creates this Judgment, that makes the time in which we live the "end time," that offers us its gifts too great to be "earned," and by which we will be measured in accordance with what we're offered and what we know.  Let us remember that His teaching wasn't about a far off day, but about where we live, here and now.  These men to whom He speaks are the leaders of Israel, the ones who know fully the God who has spoken through all the Scriptures and Israel's spiritual history.  They know better.  But, we, too, know what we have been given.   Everything is a question of how we receive and allow God to be at work in us through grace, through His word which is living and powerful.