Where Are You?
When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3: 8-9)
With the season of Lent quickly approaching, it has been fortuitous that my current Scripture class has been reading from the book of Genesis. At our most recent class we spent time reflecting upon the story of the fall of man. After the fall, Adam and Eve felt ashamed and hid from God. Genesis tells us that God then questioned them and that the first question was “Where are you?”. St. John Chrysostom speaks beautifully on this question in one of his homilies on the book of Genesis.
Along with his (God’s) loving kindness, the question, “Where are you?” is also very telling. In other words, it is as if he hinted to him in these words, What has happened? I left you in one condition, whereas now I find you in another; I left you clad in glory, whereas now I find you in nakedness. “Where are you?” How did this happen to you? Who has brought you to this changed condition? What kind of robber and brigand has robbed you like this in an instant of all the substance of your wealth and cast you into such indigence? Who is responsible for depriving you of that wonderful garment you had the good fortune to wear? What is this sudden transformation? What tempest has all at once in this way sunk all your precious cargo? What has happened to make you try to hide yourself from the one who has been so kind to you and placed you in a position of such importance? Who is it you are now endeavoring to avoid through fear? (Homily 17)
Last weekend Deacon Tom Bomkamp delivered a wonderful homily that encouraged us to stop worrying. In it he pointed out that God has already provided everything we need through his love and generosity and all that he asks in return is for us to return that same love and generosity. The problem is that we sometimes don’t trust him enough. Many times we fall into the same trap that Adam and Eve fell into, the trap of thinking God can’t be trusted, that he really isn’t going to provide us everything we need, that somehow we are in competition with him. Instead of giving him the love he desires, we choose to hide from him.
Lent is the time of year when God puts the same question to us, “Where are you?”. Where is the person I created that has been stripped of his glory by sin? Lent is our opportunity to come out of hiding and turn back to God so that he can restore us to the glory he has desired for us from the beginning. May he be successful in his search for us during this holy season.
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