It is possible to be very religious yet hate God's message and messengers! In verses 29-36 Jesus challenges the hypocrisy of those who honor the prophets by caring for their tombs, yet like their ancestors will kill the Prophet who has come to them. Their behavior proves that, spiritually speaking, they are not descendants of the prophets, but rather descendants of those who killed them. (A parallel today would be to claim, "If I had lived in 1830, I would have opposed slavery," while treating others in racist or otherwise demeaning ways today; or to say, "If I had lived in Nazi Germany, I would have helped Jewish people escape Hitler," while fearing to speak against abortion or racism lest someone think us too reactionary.)

Employing irony in a manner typical of the prophets (who sometimes told the people to go on sinning but to expect God's judgment for it—Is 6:9; 29:9; Jer 23:28; 44:25-26; Ezek 3:27; Amos 4:4-5), Jesus tells the leaders to fill to the brim the role of prophet murderers they have inherited, so that the judgment accumulating for generations will finally be poured out (Mt 23:36).