Photo by SKG Photography on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9
God’s question to Cain has a deeper meaning than just an interrogatory question about Abel. It goes to the core of our Christian witness and pursuits. Cain’s reply, a snotty question back to God, also reveals where our heart is.
God knew Cain killed Abel. The question God asks doesn’t immediately accuse Cain. Our loving Father asked a question that Cain could remorsefully answer correctly. His truthful reply could have been, “I was angry, and I killed him, his body is out in the field.” However, Cain chose to lie and then throw a question back at God. Our sinful hearts multiply our sinful behavior.
God justly punishes Cain. Cain cries out to God for mercy in his punishment. A loving father must discipline a wayward and rebellious child. God does, but He also gives him mercy by sparing his life and keeps others from taking his life.
Cain’s question back to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?,” while that of a snotty brat trying to hide his guilt does brings out an important attribute of a follower of Christ. Am I my brother’s keeper? The answer is, to some degree, yes, we are.
Throughout the Bible God commanded the Israelites to establish practices that helped those in need. They were not to harvest every grape and grain of wheat but to allow some of the harvest to be left for those who had no food. The Bibles calls this gleaning or picking what was left over. God condemned the rich in Israel for neglecting the poor, the widow, and the orphans. Part of the reason they were carried into captivity was their lack of compassion for the poor, and the sojourner on their trip.
Jesus told the parable of the sheep and the goats. The goats were separated from the sheep because they did not feed or cloth the hungry and naked. They turned their back on the sick. They didn’t visit people in prison. (During this time people had to visit those in prison and feed them. Usually, no food was provided for them by the people running the prison.) Lack of compassion shows a lack of the love of Jesus living in our hearts.
James was just as direct in his letter. Don’t just wish someone who is in need to have a good day. Help them have a good day.
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:15-17
He got right to the point just a few verses earlier laying out the Christian doctrine of love and compassion.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
He isn’t saying that taking care of widows and orphans is all we need to do. He is using these as the examples of the weakest and most vulnerable people who need a helping hand.
Peter sums it up for us nicely.
8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; 9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:8-9
Contemplation 1: Do I have an open heart and open hand to those in need, or do I tend to turn my back and a deaf ear to these people?
Contemplation 2: When I sin do I try to hide it, deflect God’s question as Cain did or do I come to God asking His forgiveness?
