Open heaven by nakedness

What will the voice say of you when the heavens open?

We read in Genesis that after Adam and Eve sinned they saw that they were naked and so hid and covered themselves. The story says God came searching for them, and after finding them trying to hide, God led them out of the garden and the heavens were closed. From then on, nakedness was seen as a shameful condition.

We read in the gospel of Matthew 3:16 how Jesus redeemed that nakedness through his baptism story: after Jesus was baptized and behold, the heavens were opened.  Prayers that commemorate that event say "the voice of the Father thundered," which stand in stark contrast to the Genesis story of God speaking to humankind in the cool of the evening.

To redeem our nakedness, Christ stripped himself before entering the Jordan. By so doing, Jesus shows that shame is not the proper response to nakedness, but rather, we should instead respond by conversion of heart, mind and way of life.

Matthew's account goes on to say that when the heavens were opened and the voice of the Father was heard, the voice proclaimed This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. The darkness of ignorance was split to uncover, enlighten and spotlight that true nakedness is not something to hide, but something to convert into truth.

A prayer for commemorating this event reads "May all who share in Christ's baptism follow in his path of service to humankind, and reflect the glory of his kingdom."

We are to "reflect the glory" of God by our uncovered, converted selves. The legendary Adam and Eve failed to understand this. According to the ancient story, Adam and Eve thought they would obtain Divinity through the fruit of the tree of life. It is Jesus who shows us we obtain real glory through stripping off our false selves and entering into a true and courageous conversion. The authentic fruit comes through baptism, our refusal to hide our condition.

For Hebrews 4:13 says: Nothing can be hidden from the Divine Presence, but everything is naked and uncovered before the eyes of him of whom we speak.

Baptism is the way we stand before God, naked in the truth of ourselves, and our willingness to be different. Then, when the heavens open, Divinity will not say, "Where are you?" but instead, "You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased."