(1.) Our God is Accommodating: Zimzum
(1.) Our God is Accommodating: Zimzum.
“Who is able to understand the mind of Lord Yahweh? Who is able to be His teacher? We, however, have the mind of Christ!” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
An Accommodating Person is one who graciously changes plans for another’s benefit; who is willing to adjust in order to meet another’s needs; is open to adapting to changing circumstances; who is able to make concessions if needed; who makes allowances for others; who choose to oblige other and give them favors in order to be helpful; who is able to creatively shift from Plan A to Plan B if needed; who makes space for others to learn and grow; who welcomes others to fit into his own space; who makes reasonable exceptions to a general rule; who is comfortable in doing whatever it takes to be understood or to communicate effectively; who is willing to adjust expectations in light of reality; who is able to place limits on himself if it help others to flourish; who is able to step back in order to enable others to step forward.
Qualities of An Accommodating Person: Gracious; Humble; Sacrificial; Flexible; Observant; Farsighted; Insightful; Adaptable; Reasonable; Forgiving; Hospitable; Patient; Self-Effacing; Shrewd.
Our Accommodating God is willing, in His wisdom, to do everything described above, and then some. It seems to be in His nature to be an accommodating Soul, a part of His character since before Day One. God has been making concessions from before the creation of the universe, since creation itself was accomplished in the spirit of accommodation. God has also accommodated in His glory, His wilderness Tabernacle, making concessions to human frailty in His Law, communicating in human language in Scripture, through His messengers, through the Church’s sacraments, with dreams and visions, and with the ultimate accommodation… the Incarnation of His Being to planet earth. It all began in the beginning, during that eternal time before Day One, when Creator God filled everything, had always been present everywhere at the same time, and yet decided to make room for the universe. And the Lord has continued making concessions with His creation, with human beings, ever since. And that is the divine pattern to be found in our lives as well… to accommodate, to make space for God and for each other.
ZIMZUM (tzimtzum): The poetic Hebrew word from the mystical rabbinic tradition which means contraction, reduction, withdrawal, restraint. As happens with all fascinating ideas, zimzum was inspired by a great question: If our Almighty God was present everywhere, if He literally filled everything with His presence, then how was there any space for the universe to be created? Because of God’s omnipresence, it follows that there was no room for anything else, right? There was no space for anything that was not God. The imaginative answer to this magnificent question was zinzum… Creator God had to step back and withdraw a part of Himself, placing spatial limits to Himself for creation to occur. The Lord had to make space for the universe. He had to create room for the world before creating it. By doing so, our magnanimous God revealed His heart of hospitality, sharing His space with His handiwork, including us whom He made in His image. This universe is God’s original territory given up for our benefit, for our very existence. Creator God is the ultimate Host, welcoming us into His home, the Host with the most. Our God is an accommodating God, willing to do whatever it takes to reveal His heart of love. Our unchanging Rock volunteered to change, to adjust Himself. The God of Plan A agreed to a Plan B. The Man who was wearing the perfect suit agreed to an alteration. The entire world is proof of divine self-limitation for the benefit of the world, evidence of the self-effacing character of the Lord of the Universe. Zinzum.
Paradox. Naturally, when we talk about zimzum, we run smack into a paradox, which literally means that which is contrary to expectation. So a paradox includes thoughts that on the surface are self-contradictory, absurd, or illogical. A paradox consists of opposites that just might be true, defying common sense. G. K. Chesterton popularized the idea that a paradox is “truth standing on its head to attract attention.” Another way of thinking about paradox is two opposites standing side by side reinforcing each other, like two sides of the same coin. Chesterton again said that paradoxes are uncovering “the hidden eccentricities of life.” So with zinzum we somehow have God contracting Himself and making space for the world, yet remaining present everywhere anyway. He withdrew but still remined present. The Unchangeable changed Himself. The Boundless placed limits on Himself while remaining unlimited. God shrank Himself while expanding His territory. His spiritual space filled with light was emptied in a space in order to bring light to a new world. Before the world was created, there was nothing we know of but darkness and unformed emptiness, which seems to indicate that God reduced His presence, withdrawing His light, in preparation for a revelation of His light once again.
“Holiness is the space we make for God. Holiness is to humanity what ‘zimzum’ is to God. Just as God effaces Himself to make space for mankind, so we efface ourselves to make space for God.” (Rabbi Jonathon Sacks).
Biblical Paradox. There are plenty of illogical truths in Scripture, including: the weaker we get, the stronger we become; when we are poor, we are actually rich we are blessedly happy when we mourn; the humble are strong; you save your life by losing it; justice is mercy, and mercy is justice; doubt is an aspect of belief; The Son of God, Jesus, was somehow 100% God and 100% human, which seems to make 200%! The greatest paradox is the Cross, where the vertical and the horizontal met in the middle and formed one truth, in which up and down were both true at the same time, dying and living were of the same substance.
“We must emulate God’s ‘zimzum,’ when the Lord exercised self-restraint to empower others, for the highest human achievement is not self-expression but self-limitation, making space for a spouse to be themselves, for children to grow into adults, for students to grow into leaders.” (Rabbi J. Sacks).