Isn’t it great when we discover new things to feed on! As I posted recently on the Facebook page of City On A Hill, I have been amazed by the ways that my sinfulness is affecting me and even more glad for the grace of God that is incomprehensibly more powerful than the shame and guilt that I feel. Ashamed but overpowered by grace.
As an aside, I wonder where this taste of grace has been for the last five years as I prepared for ordained ministry? I know not where!
I was listening to a sermon by the Rev. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City called Nakedness and the Holiness of God. I like many of his sermons because God has gifted him in a unique way to unpack the cultural connection to the biblical text. I think I’ve written elsewhere that John Piper is my contemporary hero for biblical exegesis and Tim Killer is one who I find inspires intelligent cultural exegesis.
To the point, Gen 3:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife 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?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:6-11 ESV)
What has happened in this passage is an inversion of the statement made earlier concerning the state of the man and the woman in the Garden. Where they were once “naked and not ashamed” the man and his wife know they’re nakedness and their shame causes them to hide. God asks Adam “Where are you?” Adam responds “I was naked, and I hid”. It is not his naked that is the issue. It is something deeper.
Keller is dead right to observe that Adam had ALWAYS been naked. There is nothing new. They had both been naked and walked and talked with God in the garden without nakedness being a barrier. So it can’t be that nakedness in and of itself is the issue. Now Adam feels exposed and flees to hide. It is the awareness of his own disobedience that is transferred into an awareness of nakedness. Adam’s eyes have not been opened rather that have been blinded to the reality of his actions. His diagnosis is askew.
Like Adam, our human bodies – totally corrupt human bodies – reminds us of our spiritual corruption. The two are linked. Toby said of President Bartlett; “Let the poets write that he had the tools of greatness, but the voices of his better angels were shouted down by his obsessive need to win.” And it is not too far removed to say that it is our self-sufficiencies our idols of productivity – that cause us to rely on our humaness more than the eternal truth that we have always been made in the image of God. Our likeness to God has not been totally eclipsed by our awareness of depravity. The better angels have hope yet.
In the bible, as elsewhere, the physical body has an analogous relationship with the spiritual self. To be naked is to be known. Naked before God their knowledge of sin was absent. Knowing sin they are no longer able to stand naked before God. Their willingness to be known is thwarted by their conscientiousness of sin.
Over and over again the act of ‘knowing’ another in the bible is one of physical, emotional and spiritual proximity. The penultimate expression of this is the union of husband and wife in marriage and in the marriage bed. It’s ultimate expression is the union of Christ to her pride.
In marriage we are known by another in a way that surpasses the relationship between parent and child. It is no mere legal agreement. Rather, it is the reunification of two bodies into one. The two become one. When I think about the relationship between Jane and myself, there is no other person who knows me better. She has seen me in all sorts of circumstances and has been my wife for some 11 years. And vice versa. My physical nakedness with her exposes me in ways that I would not do for any other. She sees my foibles and beauty like no other. Yet, knowing her love for me – knowing the promises made – I have no sense of shame lying naked with her nor she with me. This is the confidence and security that sexuality within marriage provides. It is a joy.But as good as this is there is a greater joy – a more lasting reward.
God knows our foibles and beauty too. We are all equally visible to Him. His eyes see deeper also.The truth is that like Adam we are all self-consciously naked, aware that another sees or private and public acts. Our true selves are bare to us. Our best attempts to cover our nakedness are cosmetic at best and disfiguring at worst. And yet, we try.
We imagine that we can be proud of who we are and unashamed of our actions. We shake our fists at God and issue corrections that we are beautiful. We overlook or transgressions against the rules and promises we make to ourselves. Saying “we are ‘only human’” as if this would somehow excuse us, making it alright. We rebel.
Have you ever wondered why religious people can be such pricks? Why they can come across so condescending and boring? Wrapped up in what is the right thing to do and eager to pass on these commands to anyone within ear shot? What religious people are craving, what the good people – well meaning folk – seek is not that different from those who choose to rebel. It is about control. It’s wanting to say to God “I’m not perfect but I am a lot better than ‘those people’.” Religious people don’t presume to be perfect but they would aggressively defend the superiority, expecting God to treat them with greater favour. And it’s hard work living under those kinds of demands. One would expect an indulgence or two from the Almighty. It’s hard work because they can’t meet all of rules and expectations they make for themselves let alone the ones required by a holy and just God. And always – within their hearts – is the feeling of shame and nakedness spurring them onto do better. Moreover they demand this ethic of others. How kind to share the path of shame like this! The treadmill of religion increases in speed and incline until we fall off.
The treadmill is broken. Despite their best attempts to keep on running. It’s time to get off.
Jesus knows me fully. I know this because I have confessed more to him than I can remember. He has always been there, seeing my struggle and success. He has always known my whereabouts and like Adam his voice echoes to each of us still – “Where are you?” That is, “When will you come back?” “When will you open your mouth and talk with me once more?” “When will you accept that I know you still?”. That amazing gift, that naked and ashamed as I am – as we all are – he knows us and he has a covering that brings the transparency and freedom we long for. Unlike the covering of animal skins provided for Adam and Eve, it’s transparent in remarkable ways.
It’s a covering that allows me to see what my sin is truly like and know that it need not overcome me. It is not covering that needs replacing from time to time because it gets torn through neglect or misuse. When you are sinned against and when I fail God by my reckless actions I can still be covered by this remarkable garment. Covered enough not to hide anymore. Covered enough not to fear expulsion from His Divine presence, Covered enough to talk and walk with Jesus in the daytime (and the night). Covered …
So perhaps I might accept more readily the shame and the joy of Jesus’ covering for me. And day by day we might be happier with these clothes than the illusions of covering that other garments provide. This is what gives me confidence to ignore the ladders of religious excess and the delusion of open rebellion.
“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.(Ezekiel 16:4-14 ESV)
