Why Prophets Die

“They had two basic problems here. First, they had no sense of proportion. They would pay Judas money to betray the Messiah, but then when Judas returned the money, they had profound scruples about which account they put it in! We just paid this guy to betray Israel’s hope and glory, and he brought the money back. What do we do now? We can’t put the blood money back in the Temple coffers. That would be a sin. The second problem they had was the reason for the first. Because they only cared about appearances, and not about realities, as long as those appearances were kept up, nothing else mattered. They were decorated tombs, and as long as visitors stayed upwind, everything was fine. The incongruities can be very public, for a long time, just as long as everyone agrees to not notice. But when a prophet comes along and starts pointing things out, there is nowhere to hide. And this is why prophets die as often as they do” (A Serrated Edge, p. 39).