TRADITION

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. Their worship of me is empty since they teach instructions that are human rules.  Matthew 15:8-9

My granddaughter had never seen the old classic movie, Fiddler On The Roof. Even though my husband and I had already seen the movie several times, we didn’t mind watching this great movie another time. So on a Friday evening we settled in front of the television with our bowls of warm buttered popcorn and watched this wonderful, but long, movie.

I was moved by the storyline, and although it was based in the early twentieth century, the motives and desires of the heart are applicable today. In reality, certain things have not changed that much. We still are faced with personal problems, discourse in the country, and families who are trying to raise children with a grounding of tradition and moral values.

Tevia, the main character and father of a Jewish family, often misquotes “The Good Book,” as he calls it. He is trying to stay grounded in his traditional belief system and is often talking to God.  Jewish tradition dictates that the father is the head of the household, the one in control; however, one soon realizes that Tevia has little control at all.

Tevia allows his first daughter, Tzeitel, to become engaged without a matchmaker. His second daughter makes a pledge to marry without the matchmaker and will be traveling far from home to marry the man that she loves. Tevia had to bend his traditional boundaries because of his love for his daughters. The third daughter, Chava, however, went a little too far. She went on to marry a Gentile from the Czar’s army, an enemy.

Tevia’s words were, “If I bend anymore, I will break.” It was a very sad moment in the movie because I was reminded of a similar decision I had to make several years ago. Tevia turns his back on his daughter, but not forever. To extend God's blessings to his daughter, Chava, he does end up bending ever so slightly.

I remember too, having to bend and extend God’s blessing. I knew it was more important to show love than to let rules and tradition dictate my actions. You see, the Bible is made up of many laws, guidelines, and regulations, but God extended His love towards us while we were sinners, while we were outside the parameters of the law. He loved us even though He knew full well we could not keep the law.

We are all in the same boat. We all fall short of the glory of God. Our lifeboat has a leak, and the leak is sin. We can either decide to push people out of the boat and we sink, or we can all learn to paddle together to get to the shore of Christ Jesus. It just takes a little cooperation and love. We do not honor God by following rules; we honor God by showing the same love He showed to us. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.” I also must add that out of rules, regulations, traditions, and love--love should trump all.

Thank you Jesus for showing love to us. Help us to extend Your love to everyone. Amen.