Naked

Sunday June 10^th, Genesis 3:  ⁸ When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.  ⁹ God called to the Man: "Where are you?"  ¹⁰ He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."  ¹¹ God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"  If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, your eyes will be opened and you will be like god.  So goes the temptation.  The reality is that in their disobedience to God, in their desire to be in control, they perceive themselves to be alone.  They are unable to see that God is with them and they feel naked.  This is one of the main stories in scripture.  It is mythical of course as are all great stories that tell us about God.  Mere truth is no match for exploring the depths of human desires and sin.  It is our desire to be like God and in the process the desire to be god that is the basis of all human sin.  In our quest to overthrow what we perceive in our weakness as the power God has over us, we fail to see what is happening through God’s eyes and heart.  This is not power over that we strive to shed, this is love for all of humanity, all of creation.  In the end we succeed in seeing the world through our eyes and what we perceive is that we are naked, totally alone, exposed and afraid.  That is how our sin of selfishness and greed, our desire to be like god, changes who we are.  The reality is that we are not alone, we are not naked, we have no need to be afraid.  God is there with us.  It is just that with the blinders of our fear, we are not able to see that reality, all we see is fear and in some translations, shame.  But once in a while, usually at one ropes end or another, we drop the scales of fear from our eyes and there we see the presence of the God who created all, loves all, and calls it good.  It is then we know grace, it is then we know God, it is then we are clothed in the love of God for all of creation.