I grew up
with the first Christmas decoration going up December 5, my older brother’s
birthday. Long before I was old enough to take the axe and bring in the cedar
Christmas tree, I was allowed to hang the foil icicles on its green limbs, or I
spent my own money buying presents for the rest of the family, that small red
wreath with its one red bulb went into the window on December 5. No other
decoration could be brought out until that wreath was in place.
Traditions
provide us a way to hold to the past during times when the present seems
chaotic and the future uncertain. Traditions remind us of our roots and mark
those important events in our history. They give meaning to the struggles of
the moment and value to the sacrifices made in the past and may be expected in
our present. Traditions give a sense of continuity while the years and
generations disappear into history.
Yet we all
know those same traditions that provide a link with the past can be the dam
preventing a healthy and innovative move into the future. The traditions that
link us can be the chains that bind us into a slavery to the past that locks
down all change, improvement, and adjustment to the changing scene around us.
Those traditions can also blind us to the intent and meaning of the events in
which those traditions began. When that occurs, we lose sight of the truth
behind the events both in their original setting and in what they can teach us
now.
Jesus met
this problem head on without concern for the response he would get from those
who valued tradition more than the purposes behind them.
Mat 15:1 Then some Pharisees and
teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him,
Mat 15:2 "Why is it that
your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't
wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!"
Mat 15:3 Jesus answered,
"And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching?
Mat 15:4 For God said, 'Respect
your father and your mother,' and 'If you curse your father or your mother, you
are to be put to death.'
Mat 15:5 But you teach that if
people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say,
'This belongs to God,'
Mat 15:6 they do not need to
honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow
your own teaching.
Mat 15:7 You hypocrites! How
right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
Mat 15:8 'These people, says
God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.
Mat 15:9 It is no use for them to worship me, because
they teach human rules as though they were my laws!' "
Tradition links us to the past and helps us understand what those
before us had to face and how they faced it. We can, however, allow their
experiences to blind us to the deeper meaning of those experiences and how we
are to approach them. Jesus urged his listeners to keep their priorities in
line. The spirit behind the traditions is what gives them value that endures
beyond the original event.
Our churches can stifle their creative vision when they allow their
traditions to blind them to the social and generational changes taking place.
As Jesus pointed out, we can get sidetracked protecting our traditions and lose
sight of the true spiritual significance behind them. We do it as churches. We do
it as individuals. Traditions can enlighten us. They can also entrap us. We
must heed the wisdom of God to maintain our freedom to learn from the past as
we move creatively into the future.
