WED EP Reflection 011222 (Gen. 4:1-16; John 1: 29-42)
I find myself learning a lot as I immerse myself in the stories of the Old Testament. This story of the very first human children Cain and Abel is fascinating to say the least. First, the mother was overjoyed when Cain was born and she gave him a great name Cain, meaning possession. She had so much joy, thankfulness, and great expectation, she said: “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” When Abel came, he was given a name that signifies vanity. This seems to indicate that she had high hopes for her first-born son. It appears that the Lord was pleased with Abel more than Cain with regards to their offerings, but the way things turned out Abel was murdered by his brother Cain. Instead of channeling his anger to the appropriate place, Cain misdirected it to his brother Abel. I can’t imagine how shocked Abel must have been after being hit by his brother. God asked Cain about it: “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?” This same question can be asked to any of us anytime. God was reasoning with Cain! we are often upset about many issues. Whether it is the sad state of affairs in general or even hearing critical or pointy remarks against us, we get upset or offended a lot. God cares about our inner peace and serenity. He knows how easy it is for us to lose our inner peace.
At this point, the first family had already been kicked out of the Eden Garden, therefore they had already tasted the terrible experience of sin and its consequences. God also asked: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you but you must master it!” How profound! Could it be that the more volatile and stricken our conscience is, the more vulnerable we are to sin? This suggests that when we mess up in life, we don’t have to sin as a result, but rather, we can ask forgiveness and be restored back to peace with God. The real issue was that Cain was a wicked man, he led a bad life, under the reigning power of the world and the flesh; therefore, his sacrifice to God was an abomination to the Lord. Prov 15: 8. There was hope, but did Cain see it? Nope! When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he said: “
Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” We mess up a lot. We know very well that we shouldn’t. But when we do, we must have a much higher confidence in our Lord’s capacity to forgive us. Does this mean that we should sin, just because we know we will be forgiven? No, far from it. Paul asked: So, shall we then continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul replies with a resounding “God forbid” (Romans 6:2)
Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘
Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘
I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said, ‘
What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you, its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’ From Cain’s answer, one can sense how his conscience was extremely disturbed: Am I my brother’s keeper? This sounds like a common reaction we often hear. Why should I care about so and so? He/she doesn’t care about me! We do this a lot. Lord help us!
I cannot emphasize enough how terrible and tragic civil wars are. Eventually people become insensitive to loss of lives. God says the victim’s blood cries out from the ground… Perhaps one may think there is such thing as an unpunished crime. Nope! It may take years or centuries, but surely consequences are unavoidable. Generations cannot remain unaffected by this. This whole discussion made me think of King Saul. He screwed up big time and misdirected his anger at young David and sought to kill him. Sin is always at our door when we mess up. I also thought of Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples of our Lord. Could he have repented after betraying our Lord? He had really screwed up and his conscience was probably burning at that point. Sin was lurking at his heart and mind’s door: He decided to take his own life.
Know that we have a friend in Jesus, the Son of God who, not only decided to show the extend of his love for us by death on the cross, but also to provide a way to reconnect to our Father in Heaven, to help us become adopted children of God. What a profound privilege and honor!
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