Red Sky at Morning
Superstar
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- Mar 15, 2017
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I have noticed the phrase come up more than once in discussions on this forum. Thinking about it has made me realise that I have a “love-hate” relationship with tradition! Let me explain...
As a child I remember watching “Fiddler on the Roof” - in the musical, Topol makes some very astute observations on the traditions they have as a community:-
When tradition works well, it is like lighting a fire on a hill and that signal being picked up by a watchman on a distant peak, who in turn, lights his fire. Done badly, it is like a game of Chinese Whispers where the thing you end up with might be very different than what it began with. I suppose that traditions often have both elements running through them to varying degrees.
Where tradition goes wrong is when it confuses the original message and elevates a counter-narrative to the level of and primary source material. This aspect can be seen repeatedly in the NT where, through many centuries, a “traditional” understanding of who the Messiah might be (and what He might do) had built up. Consequently, when Jesus arrived, the 1st Century Jewish world was split.
John 7
25Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? 26But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? 27Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
Does the OT teach that no man would know where the Messiah came from? Not at all!
Micah 5:2
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Given the time of year and the interweaving of truth and tradition Christians have become accustomed to, perhaps it is worth having a look at traditions good and bad, cherishing the ones that honour the truth and re-evaluating the ones that confuse it?
As a child I remember watching “Fiddler on the Roof” - in the musical, Topol makes some very astute observations on the traditions they have as a community:-
When tradition works well, it is like lighting a fire on a hill and that signal being picked up by a watchman on a distant peak, who in turn, lights his fire. Done badly, it is like a game of Chinese Whispers where the thing you end up with might be very different than what it began with. I suppose that traditions often have both elements running through them to varying degrees.
Where tradition goes wrong is when it confuses the original message and elevates a counter-narrative to the level of and primary source material. This aspect can be seen repeatedly in the NT where, through many centuries, a “traditional” understanding of who the Messiah might be (and what He might do) had built up. Consequently, when Jesus arrived, the 1st Century Jewish world was split.
John 7
25Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? 26But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? 27Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
Does the OT teach that no man would know where the Messiah came from? Not at all!
Micah 5:2
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Given the time of year and the interweaving of truth and tradition Christians have become accustomed to, perhaps it is worth having a look at traditions good and bad, cherishing the ones that honour the truth and re-evaluating the ones that confuse it?
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