Thinkage [updated]
“I believe we have found a most clever way to honor the prophets into insignificance. They're really harmless when we make their message simply, ‘They foretold the coming of the Messiah.’ “Prophets step in to disrupt the usual social consensus--"How wonderful our group is!"--and say, "It's just not entirely true!" So you see why the prophets are all killed (Matthew 23:29-39). Prophets expose and topple each group's idols and blind spots, very often showing that we make things into absolutes that are not absolutes in God's eyes, and we relativize what in fact is central and important. As Jesus so cleverly puts it, ‘You strain out gnats and you swallow camels’ (Matthew 23:24).