"Who Told You That You Were Naked?"

"They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and [the woman] hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, 'Where are you?'  He (the man) said, 'I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.'  [God] said, 'Who told you that you were naked'" (NRSV Genesis 3:8-11a)?

I don't know about you, but I find this entire dialogue rather humorous and yet instructive.  I mean really...  Here the ancient text places God's proximity to human beings up close and personal.  As God moves about in the "Garden," S/HE appears to cast off a distinctive sound - unlike any of the other animals, birds and all manner of creepy crawly things that is.  And since the ancient text has already informed us of the presence of four rivers - 1) Pishon, which flows around Havilah, "where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good;" also, sometimes identified with the Arabian Peninsula, 2) Gihon, "the one that flows around the whole land of Cush" (Ethiopia), which is identified with the the "Horn of Africa," 3) the Tigris, which "flows east of Assyria, and 4) the Euphrates river - we can be sure it was not the sound of rushing water either (vv. 11-14). 

The mere sound of God moving about in the "Garden," arguably, the "Cradle of Civilization," is enough for the humans - who have taken a bite out of crime (The tree of good and evil) - to be afraid, to be very afraid.  Why?  Because all of sudden, their eyes have been metaphorically opened, and now they realize that they are naked!  Heaven forbid!  Okay, hold on...  I'm sorry, but I did warn you all that I was a precocious child, yes?  Yes, well, I still am.  So, what on earth could have been so different about their 'nakedness' that was perceived to be more offensive to God than the 'nakedness' of the other animals that they felt the need to cover up?  I mean, really...  Were not all that was created, 'naked?'  Wasn't the lion naked?  Maybe the bear?  How about the orangutan?  Now I don't know about you, but I've seen an orangutan or two in my life, and uh, well...  Let's just say they look pretty 'naked' to me!  Aside from their hair - and I've also seen enough "Adams" walking around here with so much hair on their bodies that I feared the Atlanta zoo was missing some of its residents - the orangutan, gorilla, hell the whole monkey family for that matter - looks a little 'naked' to me.  What was it then that made the humans run for cover?  And more to the point, why is it that God seems to be a bit perturbed that the humans had covered up?

"WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU WERE NAKED?"  Reaching for my trusted black woman's cotton patch version, I sympathize with the early humans as I recall the distinctive sound of my own Mama walking up on me when I was behaving in a way that was less than honorable or doing something I knew I didn't have any business doing.  Like the voice of God, I can still hear her question and admonishment in the tone that only a Mama has, "Who told you that you had to act that way, talk that way?  Who told you that you were ugly, or too skinny or too fat?  Who told you that you were too black, too smart or too dumb, too pretty?  Who told you that?"  And much in the way the early humans responded to God, by placing blame on the female species and she in turn placing blame on the serpent, I too, found something or someone else to deflect Mama's wrath away from me and onto another for my own shortcomings, my own cowardice, and my own stubbornness. 

As we will see in future readings of the bible, human beings will consistently frustrate and anger God.  Rather than take responsibility for the choices that they make, they come up with excuses and place blame on others when they disappoint God.  In like manner, I've done the same regarding God's call on my life.  No more.  Now is the time to do what it is that I know God has for me, and that which is mine to do.   

Thankfully, God sees the beauty and value even in their/our weaknesses and uses  them, they and those who eventually RIZE to the occasion of the appointed hour to answer the question, "WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU WERE NAKED?" with a resounding cry, "I DID!  I looked at myself and saw my frailties in comparison to all that was and all that is, and I was afraid - I am afraid!"  But I know that I know, that I know that I know, that God never fails.  And so, as I take my leave of this post, I replace a sense of chronological time with typological time and hear God's instruction to Abram in Genesis 13:17, to "Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you," as my own call to walk out on faith, "the length and breadth of the land," to take a stand, and to RIZE UP AND BE FREE!

Stay tuned for a ministry near you! 

© Dorinda G. Henry, 2010

THEOLOGIA HABITUS EST!