One of my favorite plays has been “Fiddler on the Roof,” which was also made into a popular movie. It is the story of a Jewish-Russian family that lived about the time of the Russian
revolution, and about a man named Tevye, who dearly loved his traditions…too much.
In the play, Tevye is one
of the central characters. He was a poor farmer, who was married to “Golda,”
a resilient Jewish mother. They had three lovely daughters who wanted to be married. In
the play there also is was a “matchmaker,” a woman in the village who sought to match each of the daughters to
a fine Jewish-Russian man. But the girls wanted to choose their own husbands,
and not use the services of the matchmaker. The old traditions were starting to crumble, for the times they were a-changing.
One day the parents, Tevye
and Golda, made arrangements for their oldest daughter to marry a very rich man. In
fact, he was the richest man in town. Her poor parents felt that he would make
a great match, and he could provide for their daughter. But when the daughter met the man, she saw him in a different light—he
was in his 50’s, far too old for her. Besides, he was rather portly with
a pot belly. Instead of the rich man, she had fallen in love with a poor Jewish
tailor, a tailor who was so poor that he could not afford even to buy a sewing machine. The
couple decided to get married, and they asked Tevye to give his blessing to the marriage. He
protested, “What! You can’t do that! It violates our tradition...
From the beginning of time, mothers and fathers have always chosen mates for
their children!” But in the end, he relented and blessed their marriage. And,
all the while grumbling, “Traditions, traditions, they are starting to change.”
After some time, the second
daughter came to him with the news she wanted to be married. And, she likewise
did not want to use the matchmaker. Instead, she wanted to marry a soldier who
was serving in Siberia. And in the end,
the father gave in and gave her his blessing.
And then the third daughter
wanted to get married. And she wanted to marry outside the Jewish faith—she
wanted to marry a Gentile. To Tevye, this was the worst thing that could happen
to an Orthodox Jewish family. To marry a Gentile was an unforgiveable sin. He refused to bless their marriage, he kicked her out of the house, he declared her
dead, and her name was never to be mentioned again.
Some time passed, and the
Russian revolution was cranking up. It was a dangerous time for the Jews and
their land was being taken from them. Many of them were fleeing to America. Tevye and Golda’s family were being
separated, never to see one another again. And, then, came the last scene. In that scene, the whole family was weeping as they parted from one another. Suddenly the youngest daughter arrived with her Bolshevik husband. They know that they are not welcomed into the family gathering. Therefore, they stand outside the gate to
say their last goodbye to the father. Perhaps they hope that somehow they can
be blessed by him before they part forever. Perhaps they hope that at their last
meeting, they can be reconciled to one another.
In that moment, Tevye was
caught between two decisions. What should he do? He had vowed that his daughter
was dead and that he never would speak to her again. But his heart was breaking,
and he knew that he never would see her again. He simply walked away from her. Tragically, he turned his back on his daughter. He then bent over the fence a broken
man. No blessing. No peace. The
story ends with them never to be reconciled. Apart forever!
In the Biblical story before
us today we are allowed to overhear a family argument. It was a family argument
among a number of Jewish groups at that time, an argument that would go on for decades. People
had been coming to Jesus from far and wide, and he had been healing them of their afflictions. Some of the local Pharisees had heard of this new healer, and they, along with some Scribes from Jerusalem came to investigate. They gathered around Jesus as he and his disciples were eating the food that they had brought. The Pharisees
began whispering among themselves, and then one of them stood and pointed to Jesus. He
demanded to know why Jesus was allowing his disciples to eat without washing their hands.
No teacher worth his salt
would allow his disciples to violate the Law in such a manner. The Pharisee’s
charge did not have anything to do with sanitation. It had to do with rules that
the Pharisees has written over the years—rules that gave some basic perimeters about how one was to live as a righteous
Jew. And there were rules that governed every aspect of one’s life. In
their emotional reaction to seeing Jesus’ disciples violating those rules, the Pharisees had turned a possible dialogue
into an accusation. Their intention was not to begin a dialogue, but to make
Jesus lose face and the crowd’s support.
Tom Long at Candler Divinity School has it right when he said that their charge provoked Jesus’ anger. Jesus therefore, set off
on a long, passionate, and sometimes rather sarcastic speech. He began with,
“Oh boy, did the prophet Isaiah ever have your number, you hypocrites.” And,
then he accelerated from there, commenting on a whole range of subjects that where on his mind.
This argument was a family
argument between Jews. And, as with most family arguments, there is more than
first meets the eye. To understand what it was all about we have to separate the combatants. Therefore,
first of all, who were these Pharisees? Too often, we have thought of the Pharisees
as the “bad guys.” But they were quite the opposite—they were the “good guys.” They supported their nation. They were generous with their
money. They were honest people. They had well-kept homes and well-mannered children.
They were the outstanding citizens in the community. They would have belonged to the chamber of commerce.
Perhaps they could have been Presbyterians, and perhaps even elders and ministers. Perhaps even would have been active in the larger church, and even been a Presbytery Stated Clerk or a Presbytery
Executive. These men loved the Hebrew Scriptures. In their studies, they had found that portion of the Scriptures called the Laws to be especially appealing
to them. And when people had asked them how to live as a righteous Jew, they
had developed a rule for every occasion. Like Tevye, they loved having a rule,
a tradition that would fit every occasion. It made life so much simpler.
Jesus also was a pious Jew.
He kept the Passover and all the other holy days. He worshipped in the synagogue, and at the Temple in Jerusalem. In his teachings, he exemplified the best of Judaism.
At the same time, unlike the Pharisees who found the Law most helpful, Jesus
instead found that the Hebrew Prophets’ messages intrigued him most.
Therefore, this family argument
that we are observing was not between “bad people” and “good people.” Rather
it was between “good people” that loved to study the scriptures and who were trying to teach people how to live
out God’s will for their lives. This family argument was a snapshot of a larger debate going on within Judaism at that
time.
One of my favorite TV shows
is “House.” It is about a physician “Dr. Gregory House,”
the head of a team of specialists that seek to solve mysterious afflictions. At
the beginning of the show, the team will be faced with a complicated illness that defies a diagnosis. They therefore debate among themselves what they think that the solution is to resolving the affliction.
All the while, Dr. House will keep reframing their assumptions—forcing
them to consider other possibilities. And in their thinking ‘outside the box’, by the end of the show they will
have found the truth of what caused the affliction.
In this family argument in
today’s lesson, Jesus was trying to reframe the ways that the Pharisees and his own disciples were looking at life.
In doing so, Jesus wanted them to think through two issues:
First, Jesus was trying to
help them to see that God’s love takes priority, and that there was room for those who felt that the Law helped them
to live out their faith—as well as room for those who found the Law a hindrance in their faith journey. Despite what Mark interjects within the conversation, Jesus did not prohibit the purity laws. He simply subjugated them to the Scriptures in their priority. Further,
when Mark wrote his gospel, his audience was predominately Gentile in its membership. Moreover, the infant Christian church
was caught up in the debate over the purity laws.
At one point at a gathering of Christians Peter, a Jewish-Christian, would not stand next to Paul, another
Jewish-Christian. Peter was upset because Paul had been eating with Gentiles.
Because they differed on the Gentile mission, Peter allowed that difference to
overshadow all they held in common. The debate over the purity laws accelerated
to the point that it was taken to the first General Assembly meeting, the Council meeting at Jerusalem. That body affirmed that the
church was to live with great diversity with only a few requirements on the Gentile believers. We today are still learning to live with great diversity!
Secondly, Jesus deeply was
concerned that some of the Pharisees “winked” when some persons within their community and possibly within their
fellowship, had used moral posturing to sidestep the commandments. They were
keeping their hands “ritually washed” while being up to their elbows in evil deeds. Jesus wanted the Pharisees to stop “winking” at such sinful behavior and start “cracking-down”
on them.
In today’s world these
persons would be molding their lifestyle along the lines of that of Bernie Madoff. Bernie
Madoff was a well respected leader in the business community, a prominent philanthropist who served on the boards of many
non-profit organizations, and who donated millions to hospitals and charities. And
yet, all the while, he was defrauding thousands of investors of billions of dollars. Finally his evil deeds caught up with
him.
Today’s lesson is considered
one of the more difficult passages to understand. And there have been a number of interpretations by various preachers. At its core, however, the scripture lesson calls us to value the helpful traditions
about us. And at the same time we are to see that in all of our relationships
and decisions, we are seeking to live out the far more important teachings of Jesus.
