Title: My brother’s keeper

In this lesson from Genesis, we have the report of the first brothers, which brings us the report of the first jealousy, the first hatred, and the first murder. And, brothers, along with sisters, loved hating each other so much that they have been murdering each other, ever since.

Of course, jealousy and hatred and murder were not to be the natural course of things for us. That Cain and Abel made offerings to the Lord shows what the natural course of things was to be for us. Their offerings to the Lord demonstrates the manner in which God created us. He made us to give of ourselves for the good of others—to give up of our own and to give it to others—to think not of ourselves, first, but of our neighbor.

When you’re jealous of someone, who is the most important to you: you, or your neighbor? When you wind up hating someone, who is the most important to you: you, or your neighbor? When you finally murder someone—be it with an actual deed of murder, or the just-as-deadly murder to one’s heart accomplished with one’s words—who is the most important to you: you, or your neighbor?

Cain and Abel made their offerings to the Lord, but why did God reject Cain’s offering, while accepting Abel’s? Since God is just, we can’t find fault with Him in playing favorites. Thus, the fault must have been in Cain.

See, when people make their offerings to the Lord, the Lord looks at the heart, at the attitude with which one makes the offering. This reminds me of when my mom would ask one of us kids to do a chore. When we got all snippy about it, she might respond, "If that’s going to be your attitude, I’ll just do it myself." Once in a while, we wouldn’t get it, and run off before she changed her mind. Most of the time, we figured it out: Mom was looking for an attitude from us that showed our love for her.

Cain showed what is in the heart of sinful humans. Cain got angry, when Abel’s offering was accepted by the Lord, but the Lord overlooking Cain’s.

What is the proper response? How about repentance? How about humility? How about Cain going back home and sitting down to ponder what was wrong with his offering—that, was it possible that he didn’t give his best, that he gave with a wrong attitude, or even a selfish motive? If Cain recognized that God is good and, therefore, God could never do wrong by Cain, that God’s rejecting of Cain’s offering was meant for Cain’s good, did the Lord want Cain to learn something from this? But, Cain responded how people so often respond: he got angry.

How do people respond to you—be it your children, or a co-worker, or a friend—when you find that you need to correct them, and even do the correcting in a friendly, respectful manner? They get huffy, right? Like Cain, they do not stop and think, "Yep, this is me. I’ve been caught. I need to repent and change my ways." Nope. Our sinful nature has us thinking of ourselves, first. "I couldn’t possibly be wrong. It must be your fault."

In verse seven, sin is mentioned for the first time in the Word of God. There are several Bible words for sin, like trespass, transgression, debt, and iniquity. The common meaning of sin is "to miss the mark," that is, not measuring up to the standard set by the Lord.

The Lord warns Cain that sin is crouching at his door. This reminds us of what the Lord had Peter write, that Satan prowls like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. The Lord is telling you, just as He told Cain, that you must rule over your sinful temptations. There is only one way to kill Satan and rule over sin: flee to the Lord Jesus Christ for His forgiveness, life, and salvation from Satan.

How bad was the sinful taste in Cain’s mouth? When the Lord asked him where Abel was—whom Cain had just murdered—he had the audacity to lie to God! Well, that’s what sin does, it leads us to bolder and bolder sins.

Think about the sins of your life, especially the ones with which you have struggled; your pet sins. As the years roll on, don’t you become bolder and bolder in those sins? You get better and better at those sins. Lying. Cheating. Jealousy. Hatred. Lusting. Coveting. Conniving. Whatever the sin might be, it’s like practicing for a sport: the more you do it, the better you get. And, the better you get with sinning, the bolder you get at doing it.

Finally, Cain asks the big question: "Am I my brother’s keeper?" This is the question asked by the self-centered person; by the hateful one, the jealous one, the murdering one. This is the question asked by the person who doesn’t want to be bothered, who has his own life mapped out and it doesn’t include you. This is the question asked by the sinner.

Do you think the Lord Jesus ever asked that question? Does a person, who has been made in God’s image—His image is that of love, and with love comes compassion, and sympathy, and charity, and kindness, and every good quality—does a person, who has been made in God’s image, ask if he is his brother’s keeper? No. The child of God loves being his brother’s keeper; loves his neighbor as he loves himself; loves treating others the way he wants to be treated.

What a mess. The first big brother of the newly created world proved to be a role model for everything that went wrong in the fall into sin by his parents, Adam and Eve. He mistreated his little brother—anyone of you ever do that? He was a hothead—anyone of you have anger issues? He was a liar—anyone of you willing to confess to that?

Back to the beginning of the lesson. When Eve gave birth for the first time, she made a curious statement, "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord." Many think that Eve thought that she had given birth to the Savior, as God had promised, right after Adam and Eve sinned, that Eve’s offspring would defeat the devil.

Sadly, the Savior would not come so soon. Sadly, Eve gave birth to the opposite of a savior, but to a lying, hating, murderer. Sadly, the offspring of Eve—generation of generation, right down to our generation—would continue to prove that the offspring of sinful men and women will always be just like Dad and Mom: full of sinful thoughts, words, and deeds.

Ultimately, a woman would be able to declare, "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord." That would be Mary. The virgin Mary, in whom the Lord conceived His one and only Son, so that Mary’s Son would have no human father and, therefore, would be conceived without sin.

Mary’s firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus, would prove to be the good son—the exact opposite of Eve’s firstborn son, Cain. Where Cain looked out for himself—where you look out for yourself—Jesus looked out for His neighbor. Where Cain lied to try to avoid trouble—where you lie to try to avoid trouble—Jesus spoke the truth, which got Him into trouble. Where Cain’s anger led him to murder—where your anger leads you to murder with words that kill just as truly as if you shot a person right in the heart—Jesus was on the business end of the anger of the sinners who just couldn’t put up with His proclamation of the truth, and was the One who was murdered.

As it was with Cain, so it is with you: sin is crouching at your door. That’s why Jesus died for you, and that’s why Jesus lives for you, to save you from sin. That’s why He has His pastors proclaim His forgiveness to you, Sunday after Sunday, as I was blessed to do, at the beginning of the service. That’s why He had you baptized, to clothe you in His protection against the wily devil. That’s why He gives you His body and blood in His Holy Supper, to nourish you with His strength, so that you can fight the good fight against the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature.

You fight against being your brother’s keeper. Jesus loves to be your keeper. He is always at work for you and in your, to keep you safe from sin and Satan; to get you into His safe heaven. Amen.