Things Get Worse Fast - Cain and Abel

May 28, 2017              7^th Sunday of Easter                Genesis 4

            One day Adam was walking along with his sons Cain and Abel.  They came across the ruins of the Garden of Eden.  His sons asked, “Dad, what is that place?”  And Adam replied, “That boys, is where your mother ate us out of house and home.”

            It’s a silly quip but it points to just how fast things fall apart for us humans.  In one scene Adam and Eve get expelled from the garden.  In the very next scene we have the first murder.

            Biblical scholars don’t know what exactly how to interpret the story of Cain and Abel.  What was wrong with Cain’s offering?  Did he have the wrong attitude?  Was his offering given grudgingly while Abel’s was willingly?  If Abel was a herder and Cain was a farmer is this the first instance of battle between farmers and ranchers?

            Most of them realize that these are the wrong questions to ask the text.  It wants us to come at it from a different direction.  But before we get to that, let’s note that this is the first story we’ve encountered in Genesis that is actually just a straightforward story.  As far as I can tell there’s no symmetry, and no patterns, and nothing fancy.  However, interpreting it from the direction the author intended does tell us how to interpret the whole of Genesis.

            If you were here last week you may remember that the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy, form a literary structure of nested parallels.  Like those little Russian dolls that fit one inside another and inside another and another until you can barely believe there’s something left in the middle.

            So it is with Genesis through Deuteronomy.  Jews call these books the Torah and they are the heart of Jewish scripture.  The rest of the prophets, the psalms, proverbs and all the other stories are secondary.  And what is the core of the Torah?  Leviticus 16 where God gives Moses instructions for the Day of Atonement.  These were instructions for how people were to be restored to right relationship with God – or returning to at-one-ment with God.

            I suggest you use that as a lens to interpret everything you read in Genesis through Deuteronomy.  I don’t promise that everything will make perfect sense if you do that.  But you will pick up on the overarching theme of how to be in right relationship with God.

            The story of Cain and Abel is not about the two brothers so much as it’s about God.  It is about what God does and how God acts in light of human brokenness.

            You know the story.  As the story goes Cain is the firstborn, the first human to actually come about by birth.  Adam and Eve are crafted by God.  Cain can point to who is father and mother are.  Let your mind dwell on that thought for a moment.  God has instructed Adam and Eve to populate the world.  Their offspring are the height of creativity.  Adam and Eve are the first ones given the power to create beings in the image of God.  From the story’s perspective it is quite an honor.

But is Cain going to live in an honorable way?  The first thing we learn about this man is that he is a farmer.  The second thing we learn about him is that he makes an offering to God from what he has raised.  The third thing we learn is that he is jealous of God’s preference to his younger brother.  And of course the fourth thing is that he kills his brother.  So much for human creativity!  As the story goes Cain is not only a murderer, he brings about the first death ever. 

Now let’s look at it from the point of view of God’s actions.  When Adam and Eve mess up does God kill them – the punishment they are supposed to receive for their disobedience?  No. 

I was never a good sculptor.  In art class I groaned every time the teacher brought out the clay.  Oh, it was fun to squish it around and make shapes, but my talents were at their limits when I made a snake.  That’s about all the more complicated I could get.  Everything I ever tried to do ended up a non-descript lump.  Or a few times I did actually make something it usually collapsed.

Of course the good thing about clay is that when you mess up you can smash it and start over.  But easy as that is, does God do that with Adam and Eve?  Why not just smash these two messed up lumps of clay and start over?  Keep trying until you get it right and have something worthwhile!

But that is not what God does.  God does not kill them.  God is merciful and lets these messed up lumps of clay live.  It is Cain, a human, who exercises the power that causes death first. 

If I was in art class and I finally came up with a clay sculpture that looked like something and didn’t collapse under its own weight and then someone else came along and smashed it, I would not be a happy camper!  I’m not sure what I’d do, but it might involve taking my clay and making a highly accurate impression of the person’s face with it!

Is that what God does?  Does God then smash Cain?  No, God is merciful once again.

We’re going to discover that as we read through Genesis.  God is merciful over and over again.  I know it is easy to look at the Bible and think that the Old Testament is all about God being wrathful and the New Testament is about God being gracious, but not so.  The Old Testament is full of God’s mercy and grace too.

Now, does God say, “It’s alright Cain.  I know you were jealous.  You acted in fear and ignorance.  I forgive you.  Let’s try again.”  No.  There are consequences, there is accountability.  God tells Cain, “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.”

And there is also mercy.  When Cain says, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!  Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive an a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.”

The story goes on to say that God puts a mark on Cain for his safety.  I wouldn’t spend too much time thinking about what this sort of mark would be.  The idea is that God provides protection for Cain.

We find again this story lacks credibility.  For by the story line there are only Adam, Eve and Cain at this point, yet Cain is worried about non-existent people killing him.  But as before, do not take these stories as literal historical accounts.  They never were intended to be.  They are intended to teach you about God and being in relationship with God.

So, what do you learn?  If you mess up, even messing up really big time, like deliberately killing another person who is created in the image of God, God responds.  God responds with both mercy and accountability.  If there weren’t accountability God would be nothing but a big puff ball.  Evil would run rampant.  God brings about accountability but the final word is mercy.  God does not kill Cain for his sins either.  God acts mercifully to him and even provides for his protection.

In your life of faith may you find God’s mercy.  And when accountability comes may you learn from it so as not to repeat mistakes.  Ultimately God does desire to gather us all up into his kingdom where the brokenness and sin and evil will be no more.  When we can be united and fully be as God intended always.