Tradition, or Kids Who Know Why

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When we first became involved in the homeschool support group in Cookeville, Tennessee, in 1994, I quickly volunteered to organize our group’s trips to the theater. We had good theater opportunities a couple of hours away in Nashville and often even better opportunities in a nearby small town. A couple with experience in Hollywood had moved to that rural community about twenty-five years before and opened a high-quality theater.

My volunteering was largely mercenary. Tickets for school-day matinees at the smaller theater were $4 a ticket back then and the performances were top-notch. I knew that if I took that job, I could choose the shows I wanted our children to see. I am confident that the combination of early drama experiences at our church in Illinois and seeing all those plays as a homeschooling student helped to inspire our daughter Mary Evelyn to create the plays that she does now.

One of the best plays we attended was Fiddler on the Roof which we got to see both in Nashville and in the small town. A tall Texan played the lead role of Tevye in Nashville; the short, plump seasoned-actor-son of the founders of the smaller theater played Tevye in the small town. Since we were used to the Tevye in the movie version, which we watched over and over during our homeschooling years, the founders’ son was much more believable.

Though Tevye lives as a Jew who has not put his faith in the Messiah Whom God sent to Tevye’s people and to all the world, my heart always bleeds for Tevye and his wife Golde, as they watch daughter after daughter reject their traditions. If only their whole family had turned to Jesus, remained close, and been at peace with one another . . . .

The Jews who live in the town of Anatevka have beliefs that lie at the root of the problems between parents Tevye and Golde and their girls. They are committed to traditions for the sake of tradition instead of being committed to traditions based on truth.

One of the most recognizable tunes in both the play and the movie is “Tradition!” which is a part of Tevye’s opening monologue. Tevye tells the audience that the people of Anatevka have traditions for everything, such as how to sleep, eat, work, and wear clothes. He gives the example of how they always keep their heads covered and wear a little prayer shawl and then explains that those show their constant devotion to God. That’s when Tevye reveals the key problem in the story by asking, “How did this tradition get started?” and then answering his own question, he says, “I’ll tell you. I don’t know. But it’s a tradition.”

When parents don’t know why they do what they do and when parents don’t teach their children why they do what they do and when parents keep traditions that are not based on truth God has revealed in His Word, it isn’t surprising when children reject those traditions.

God condemned people who:

. . . draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote . . . .
Isaiah 29:13

Jesus once told some Pharisees and scribes:

“You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God
in order to keep your tradition.
Mark 7:9

Our heavenly Father doesn’t expect His children simply to follow tradition for the sake of tradition. He rears “kids who know why” and gives us the tools and the power to rear our kids to know why, too.

But an hour is coming, and now is,
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth;
for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
John 4:23

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