Genesis 4:1-16
The question from God that arises here is now not “Where are you?” but “Where is your brother?” The story of Cain and Abel is a chapter out of the primeval history of man. The torn relationship with God shatters peace among his creatures. The divisions have begun – at separate altars to God, no less. The terribleness of the sin is just in that it is committed not apart from God but as part of connecting with him.
What was the difference in the sacrifices? Who knows? God can make whatever choices he wants. We run into it every day. The critical part is how we respond. God tried to warn Cain. But sin appears as a monster he can’t control, making the distance between hateful emotion and hateful action very short indeed. God’s warning reminds us, however, that we are not helpless about this.
Abel’s blood cries out from the ground Cain had made a living from. Now there is a shattering of the relationship between him and the earth from which man himself had come.
Life belongs to God. That’s at the heart of the sin, but it is also the reason Cain gets protection. The meaning of ‘Nod’ is ‘fugitive.’ Murderous man’s home is a state of restlessness, alienation, no belonging. And yet God protects his life, because it still belongs to him.
Prayer:
God, your ways are mysterious. Yet we are not without insight, wisdom, much that you reveal to us as we go forward in faith. May we celebrate interdependence with one another as we go, and find you in the relationships you give us. Through Christ. Amen.
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1 comment:
people, kids, early on learn how to take or not take responsibility, how to be a victim or not.
my kids, my coworkers, myself: i'm always encouraging them/me that it doesn't matter what happens to you, it matters how you respond.
it seems a bit like the buddhist idea that you create your own reality, except christians believe in god, so what we have a choice is to participate in god's reality.
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