Zipper Up!

Teaching Kindergarten over the winter has given me my share of zipper problems: broken zippers, uneven zippers, zippers caught in fabric, zippers tangled up with loose threads, zippers ineffectively attempted with gloves or mittens, zippers bent out of shape, zippers on reversible jackets that are a mystery in their design.

It's like an assembly line in the classroom as each student presents themselves to me, holding up two ends of a zipper. "Can you help me, Mrs. Shoemaker? I can't get it." So one after another, I slide the end of the zipper into the head until the two ends are exactly even, and then I pull upward.

This morning as I prayed over the things I read, this is what the Lord said to me: I'm the zipper head. 

I'll explain more in a minute. First, James 2:5-13 focuses on the law of love, found in Leviticus 19:18. James says in 2:8-11: "If you really keep the royal law (the law of love) found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right. But if you show favoritism (that discrimination I talked about yesterday), you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For He Who said, 'Do not commit adultery' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."

Jesus, in a conversation with the Pharisees documented by Matthew in chapter 22:37-40, answers a question put to Him by an expert in Moses' law. The question was: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus could have expounded at length about the Decalogue, He could have gone into one or another part of Levitical law. He could even have touched on Isaiah or Jeremiah or another one of the prophets. Any of those were up for debate, because this expert in the Law was a Pharisee, who -- unlike the Sadducees -- recognized all of these portions of Scripture as relevant Law.  

So the Pharisees, who consistently try to trap Jesus with words, bring out their big guns: an expert in the Law. Almost like they remember the twelve-year-old boy who sat in the Temple and amazed their elders and teachers of the law years before this. This guy knows His stuff; we need to bring everything we've got.

Also... good job, Joseph and Mary, for doing such an excellent job of teaching the Scriptures to your children. This is evident in Jesus' thorough knowledge of the Torah, the Prophets, all parts of oral tradition, etc. And if we excuse it by saying, Well, He's God, of course He knows, James, Jesus' brother, demonstrates his thorough Scriptural knowledge as well in His book. 

Anyway, Jesus listens to the question and -- per normal, instead of answering as the Pharisees expect -- He goes for the big picture, which He's good at doing. He says: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

In other words, first, thread the zipper head, first, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Then everything else lines up -- loving your neighbor as yourself -- as long as that zipper head is on point.

"But Mrs. Shoemaker, my zipper is stuck." Maybe the zipper pieces are warped, or the zipper head picks up material, or the little tab breaks off. 

James says: "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." Most of the time, I can't zipper half a zipper, jump over the troubled area, and then finish zipping the rest of the zipper. If the zipper is broken in just one part, it's pretty useless for keeping the coat or the backpack closed. It still gapes open, destroying, in essence, the entire point of the zipper.

The Lord has been doing a work in my heart for a while now. He's been talking to me about this holy love for His people, this compassion that He has for us, that we are to reflect to others. Imperfect as we are, in need of mercy and grace as we are, we are still to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. And then, love our neighbors, our friends, our families, our non-friends -- as we love ourselves.

"But I don't love myself; that's prideful."

No, you do love yourself. It's the basic concept behind self-preservation. I love myself enough to try not to die if I can help it. We are creatures who generally enjoy comfort, and to a certain extent, most of us want to enjoy some comfort on varying levels. I sleep on a mattress instead of a hard floor, because I love not waking up in the morning unable to move. A mattress isn't possible for everyone, but most of us take our circumstances and make them as easy as we can.

John 8:1-11 shows us Jesus as He stands in the Temple courts in front of a woman caught in adultery -- one of those Lawbreakers who broke the Law at just one point that I mentioned before. Jesus and the woman are surrounded by teachers of the Law and Pharisees, who accuse the woman and try to trap Jesus at the same time by asking Him what they should do with the woman. If Jesus answers to the right or the left of the question, He will fall into their trap. 

The Pharisees remind me a crotchety old spiders, sitting in the corners of their webs, weaving their stickiest plot threads. Jesus swipes their webs away with a wave of His hand. He's miles ahead of them, and He bends down and writes in the sand. They keep pestering Him, and finally, He stands up and says: "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone."

Lots of us like to leave the story there. Mind our own business. Don't cast stones. Jesus didn't; we shouldn't either.

Agreed. But the story doesn't end there. As the Pharisees realize they've got no answer for this Man, they start to drift away, until only Jesus is left with the woman. "Woman," He says, "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 

"No one, Sir," she answers.

Jesus says: "Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin."

And somewhere in that two-sentence reply is all the compassion and holiness of Christ. Grace, love, and the mercy that triumphs over judgment (James 2:13), along with the call to live a life free of zipper-breaking. Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 1:17: "Be holy, because I am holy." He goes on in 2:9 to say: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."

His zipper head lines this woman up. He slides all the pieces back into place. He loves her, and He calls her out of darkness.

I want the compassion of Christ -- not just to experience it myself, which is truly a life-altering experience -- but to show that compassion to others so they can know this same compassion as well -- that same amazing, grace-filled reply: "Then neither do I condemn you (Hallelujah!)! Go now and leave your life of sin (Hallelujah again)!" 

As if we could want anything else after standing on the other end of that compassion. As if, when we see His love and forgiveness, and judgment-trumping mercy in all of its beauty, we could ever want to return to the life of sin, the bent zipper, the imperfection. 

Does that mean we are cured of our sinful nature after we accept His compassion? No. We've tasted the beauty of His compassion, and we reflect it, but as Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians: "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror..." We only have a sin-altered understanding of this holy compassion... "Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

Then, when Jesus returns and makes all things new, when the zipper head aligns everything to perfection, when He comes for His people, when the lion lies down with the lamb, and death and mourning and crying and pain are gone, when the old order of things has passed away -- then we shall know fully, even as we are now fully known.

I can't wait to see past the mirrored reflection and look directly into the eyes of Jesus. To see Him without the filter of my sin nature. It's going to be beyond description!

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).