Fashionable Ficus

AM Psalm 5, 6 • PM Psalm 10, 11
Gen. 3:1-24 • Heb. 2:1-10 • John 1:19-28

The human ingenuity and divine magic on display in today’s passage from Genesis strike me as whimsical in an otherwise distressing narrative. Adam and Eve sew fig leaves together! (Had they already devised needles and thread?) God then conjures clothes for them from animal skins! (Of course he knew their measurements by heart.)

Though nudity in art reigned in Ancient Greece and Rome, and in Europe during the Renaissance, it was reined in by a fig leaf campaign in the 16th century. Many altered paintings and statues have since been restored to their naked glory. Today’s high-tech fig leaves include the AI on Instagram that decided the picture of frying donuts I’d posted was actually of several bare (female) breasts, and took it down.

Despite the enduring imagery of fig leaves, Genesis provides a flimsy rulebook for nudity in art and life. What it does better is encapsulate how shame is central to humanity’s broken relationship with God. Adam and Eve cover their nakedness out of shame. God gives them more suitable clothing not to reinforce their shame but to lovingly provide for their new reality: they will no longer be covered by the perfect protection of the Garden, but they will be sheltered from the elements beyond Eden.

Written by Kathryn Haydon

Kathryn holds a doctorate in Plant Science from the University of Arkansas and currently lives in St. Louis where she works as a food and plant scientist. She reads oodles of science fiction and fantasy and shares a happy, book-filled home with her husband Nathan and their cats Ollie and Adair.