Tradition or Gospel?
I watched Fiddler On The Roof with my kids the other day. The opening scene has Tevye saying:
A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy.
And then he goes on to say:
Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as... as a fiddler—on the roof!
Overall, I enjoy the movie. And I love the image of a “fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck.” Each of us is called to enjoy this world in the midst of trials and suffering.
But I disagree that tradition is the stability that keeps the fiddler from falling off the roof. Traditions are wonderful—but only if you know why you have them.
If you don’t know why you have a tradition, then at best it’s a pointless distraction.
The Gospel gives you more hope than that. If the Gospel is true, then you don’t need to resort to distractions from your trials. You can lean into your trials. You can even “count it all joy when you fall into various trials…that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4 NKJV).
What do you think?
Joseph