Witnessing Traditions    Traditions are powerful. They can be either helpful or hurtful. There’s the infamous Hatfield and McCoy family feud tradition in American history—a hurtful tradition. Then there are traditions that serve to hold families together: Thanksgiving dinner, wedding celebrations, birthdays, and others. Some traditions are so strong that they almost have the force of law.
   Following Thanksgiving, there’s the worldwide tradition of preparing for Christmas. There will be many discussions—maybe even arguments—about the essence of Christmas traditions. Is it about buying presents, decorating a tree, treating people kindly, or the birth of a Jewish baby boy in Bethlehem? On the one hand, there is not a slightest attempt to answer that conundrum; on the other hand, St. Mark provides a picture of the importance and meaning of tradition. He wrote that after Jesus cleansed the leprous man: “And he said to him, ‘Look, say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest, and make an offering concerning your cleansing which Moses commanded, as a witness to them.’” (1:44) Jesus referred to Moses’ directions for cleansing from infectious skin diseases in Leviticus chapter 14. It was a long and expensive process, but Jesus commanded the man to do this “as a witness to them.”
   At the time, leprosy was incurable, so this man’s remarkable recovery was a miracle. The testimony would also include the fact that it resulted from a word spoken by Jesus outside any ritualistic recovery process. It would be a testimony to the presence of divine power. It would also be a subtle message to those who oversaw the religious practices that they needed to seek the presence of that healing power themselves.
   In the next few weeks, it seems a good exercise to inquire into the witness of Christmas traditions, some of which seems to have almost the force of law. Directory