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." 

Casting aside the Clouds

We read the the gospels that when John baptized Jesus in the Jordan, the heavens were opened...And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Mt 3:16-17)
 

So, what happened?  Something great is being revealed, and who is hearing it? More importantly, who is being changed by it?

How many times in our lives have similar wonderfully spiritual manifestations been made, with similar effect. It goes to show just how powerful we are. We can witness or experience, and yet still resist being moved.

If we only used that power to our advantage, what wonderful realities would break forth in our lives. Often our power is clouded by darkness that cast shadows of doubt, second-guessing, and fear. But shadows can be dispelled by reality. We have within ourselves an amazing ability to do nothing less than to effect change and to break patterns. Let's not let the opportunity slip pass us. Life is too short to miss out.

To Be Found Naked

Lake Ontario - so much water!

The past 15 years I've been attracted to the sense of nakedness. Oh my gosh, you say. No, not that kind. The nakedness of Genesis, where suddenly aware of their natural state, but guilty of their act of eating the forbidden fruit, the first parents try to hide from the God who knows all. Pretty stupid, I say. But then, when we try to cover things up, it is quite obvious to all what we are doing. We tend to be the only ones fooled.

Nakedness as finding the truth, yes, that is what attracts me. And with that thought, I'd like to return to the thought of water, to its life giving properties, and its destructive ones as well. Olivier Clement writes of baptism that the water we are immersed in is a sort of tomb. The water closes over the neophyte like a tomb. For the tomb to become a womb the Holy Spirit must supernaturally intervene. The Spirit given 'from above' brings the human being to a new birth, clothing with incipient but real light the whole being, the heart, the mind, the desires, all the faculties, the very senses (Roots of Christian Mysticism, 104).

The thought is consistent with nakedness, as well as water. To be naked in scripture is to be without pretense, which means we are grasping truth. To be baptized means we are throwing off the old and putting on the new. What Clement suggests is that what is clothed is the heart, the mind, the desires, etc. with the light of God. Quite a thought.

Baptism also addresses how to channel water from destructive to fruitful: the Holy Spirit. The very water we are practically drowned in (in some rites) becomes the vessel for the Holy Spirit to descend (better than a life guard, even the most athletic one). For the Spirit doesn't come to save us. He comes to sanctify. To cloth us with light, a transparent light that reveals, not covers.

Now do you understand my attraction?