The play, Fiddler on the Roof, begins with a song celebrating tradition. “Because of our traditions each of us knows who he is and what God expects us to do.” The rest of the play is about those traditions going bust. Traditions are necessary on the one hand, but they can be limiting on the other. Jesus had to deal with the expectations of tradition in his ministry. Simply repeating tradition without a profound understanding of its significance makes for a sterile practice. Since God is a God of surprises, sometimes holding onto a tradition can blind us to the new thing God is doing. Hence the balancing act we must practice — honoring tradition for how it grounds us but opening ourselves to God’s surprise.
