Mark 7 1 - 22

Fiddler on the Roof is one of the best-loved musicals of all time.

It is the story of Jewish people living in pre-revolution Russia at a time when there is persecution and revolution is in the air.

The main character in the musical is a man called Tevye, and he has three daughters that he has to marry off, so he's a busy man.

But in all this that he has to organize, he is burdened down by the task he has, and he loves his traditions.

That's the thing that comes through on Fiddler on the Roof.

He sings, in fact, I think the first song is about traditions.

And he's singing about these traditions that are so good, he says.

They make him feel safe, but he is living, you see, in a time of change.

He's living in a time of change.

And every now and again during this musical, the fiddler on the roof plays very poign- poignantly as a reminder of the things that they once knew, the traditions that they once lived out, and the fact that things are changing.

In Jesus' day, they were in a state of change.

The people of Jesus' day were under Roman occupation for a start, weren't they? They were facing the threat of an all-encompassing Greco-Roman culture, which was really influencing many of the people of that day.

And now they find out that one of their own up north in Galilee is upsetting the apple cart of tradition, and they are threatened by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so they don't know why this is happening, but a delegation is sent to find out, and that leads to this bitter confrontation between the religious elite of Jesus' day.

The question is, w- why? Why is he doing this? If you get into the mindset of the scribes and the Pharisees, they would be thinking, "Why, why is one of our own, a Jewish man, doing this just now when everything is in uproar under Rome?" And even his disciples are struggling to grasp why Jesus is taking this line.

And the reason that he's doing it is because Jesus is circling the core of human need.

He's circling the core of human need for which he came into the world.

You see, tradition here was trumping revelation and obscuring the essential need of the human heart, which is for cleansing and healing and restoration.

That's why Jesus came into the world, for the glory of his name, but also for the saving of his people from their sin.

And these traditions had taken on a life of their own in Israel and were obscuring the thing that Jesus is trying to expose.