Who Told You That?

Then [God] asked, "Who told you that you were naked? // Genesis 3:11

My family still talks about my standing ovation in Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. I was in ninth grade, but the costumes and the choreography made it feel like Broadway. 

I’ve always been a character actress, so the Wicked Stepmother was deliciously fun to play. She was over the top and scornful and arrogant to mask her insecurity, and a part of me never stopped playing her. A part of me still criticizes and punishes, still acts with cruelty and superiority. Not to other people, really, but to me.

There is a voice within who accuses and shames me. Sometimes it’s the voice of the enemy (a good spiritual director or mentor can help you distinguish and reject that), but oftentimes it’s my Wicked Stepmother. Why did you say that? You’re so stupid. No man will ever want you.

I spent so many years not recognizing the voice of the enemy that I partnered with him in parroting the lies. And while it’s important to learn to discern his ugly words from our own thoughts, we must first of all learn to listen for the true voice of the Father. 

When we pick up the story of today’s First Reading after Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, it’s easy to intone condemnation in the Father’s call (see Genesis 3:9-15). But what if He’s not shouting, not disappointed? What if the tone of voice we project onto the pages of Scripture is actually our own Wicked Stepmother’s, or angry authority figure’s, or even the voice of the original tempter? 

What if instead we read those same verses and imagined the ringing voice of a loving Father coming to help and heal His beloved son and daughter? Can you hear His fatherly concern, heartbroken that their purity and original innocence had been stolen? 

Now, can you imagine the Father squatting down before you with tears in His eyes, asking, “Who told you that you were naked?”

Who told you that you were ugly?

Who told you that you were unlovable?

Who told you that horrible lie?

Tell Him today and let the Father’s love cleanse and cover you.