Morning Prayer: Tom Lyda Choral Amen Hymn of Peace *Let There Be Peace on Earth* Witness of Scripture: Genesis 4: 1-16 Anthem *O Clap Your Hands* Ralph Vaughan Willams. Chancel Choir Sermon *Essentials: The Question of Neighbor* David Spain
Recorded on September 15, 2024
One of the great gifts of the Bible is that it does not shy away from hard conversations. To be sure the Bible speaks of beauty and wonder, hope and joy, comfort and courage, compassion and mercy, and we hunger for that kind of good news. But in its honesty, the Bible also speaks of tragedy and cynicism, loss and grief, estrangement and angst, manipulation and betrayal because this too is sometimes part of life. The Bible lifts up life at its best and most sublime, and the Bible faces life at its worst and most difficult.
Sometimes the Bible offers wise counsel—“it is more blessed to give than receive,” “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,” “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “now faith, hope, and love abide these three, and the greatest of these is love.” Many people have a core affirmation of faith that centers belief and practice, and the Bible provides many such statements. And, the Bible is also good at asking important questions?“Where are you?” “What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul?” “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye?” Of all the questions the Bible asks—and there are hundreds—perhaps the most important and abiding question is voiced in today’s story from Genesis. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Perhaps this is the essential question for all faiths, for all times, for all peoples—the question of neighbor.
Fred Rogers talked about neighbor—with cardigan sweater and slip on loafers he invited us into the neighborhood. Cain talked about neighbor as well, but his was not an invitation; instead, it was a defense. Life for most people exists somewhere between Fred and Cain because life being what it is, we are still asking “am I my brother’s keeper?” The Bible asks good questions.
The story of neighbor begins optimistically enough. Although the first couple has known loss and deceit and experienced those consequences because there is no such thing as a consequenceless life, they have also come to know the God of mercy and second chances.They find life east of Eden, they conceive and have two children. If we have been a sibling, have a sibling, have children, cousins, people on the same street with us, colleagues at work, then we know about the other (Yeah, a sibling; oh no, a sibling). Genesis tells us life means living in community, which always leads to the question of what kind of community. In its subtle brilliance, Genesis tells us the truth about life in community—that anytime there is another there will be differences. This is not bad, but it is not easy either. One of the great joys of talking with couples who are preparing for marriage is that we talk about so many important matters—career, family, faith, money, lifestyle. And we talk about differences—how does the couple manage difference. Differences are given—they don’t necessarily lead to conflict but if they do, how does the couple manage that? It is the question of neighbor.
Genesis does not shy away from the hard questions—oh joy a sibling, oh no a sibling.Genesis tells us about difference through the story of two brothers who could not be more different. It begins with their names—and Genesis does love the power of names. Cain means to acquire or produce; Abel means vapor or nothingness. We ponder that difference immediately. Who are the acquirers, the producers, the getters, the achievers; who are the forgotten, the nothings, the non-existents, the irrelevant? We can drive down Main Street and see that difference. How do we feel about that? How are we to respond to that—it’s a question of neighbor. There are other differences. Cain is a farmer—he works a plot of land and produces food to eat; Abel is a sheep rancher—his flocks graze the land and wander. That difference has been linked to competing ancient vocations (the settled versus the nomadic) and it has been further linked to nation-state differences (the northern and southern kingdoms). We have no difficulty seeing labor versus management; hourly versus salaried; surplus versus equity—it’s a question of neighbor. There are other differences. When it comes time to go to church—these sons worship—Cain brings his offering as does Abel. They are different offerings but each offers from the work they do. Here is where the story is problematic. God regards Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. Although countless explanations have been offered—that Cain offered the leftovers from the field while Abel offered the best parts, that God prefers cowboys to seed-sowers (many around here would say that’s not true!), the story simply does not say why God responds as God does. We are left with this discomforting mystery.Cain understandably is upset—and Genesis describes his anger with this powerful sentence—his face fell. It is interesting that God does not leave Cain alone in his anger. God asks about it and says anger does not have to win, which is to affirm that Cain has a choice, an option, a decision and is not destined to destroy. He is not driven by original sin, but still has the capacity for good. So, we wonder why Cain’s anger with God is misdirected onto Abel. Could he have gone to God with both gladness and hurt; joy and angst? Can we?Is Genesis connecting ideas and feelings about God with how we engage neighbor?
The old saying “nobody is ever born into the same family” rings true.Communities, however they are construed, have differences. Diversity is not a curse, but it does force the question of neighbor. Genesis wants us to know that when it comes to neighbor there is always the potential for invitation and the potential for rejection.Genesis does love a good metaphor—a walking and talking snake crawling through a garden; or in chapter 4 sin is something that lurks at the door, ready to pounce—a carnivorous beast ready to consume. In its wisdom about life, Genesis reminds us there are powerful impulses for destruction, which sometimes come from without; and sometimes live within. The passion to do good and the passion to do harm can be as close as the human heart. What is lurking? Rebecca Goldstein describes it this way—“the urge to heed your own hurts, pains, passions, and desires, to let them determine your action completely without any other thought of the claims that the other creatures make on your life—this is what Cain does.” (Genesis: A Living Conversation, p. 100). The beast pounces and devours, and Cain the producer becomes Cain the devourer.
The one named no name or nothingness is swallowed into the ground. And yet, the story says Abel who has not spoken at any point in this story, is not without a voice. God hears him, God knows, God attends. We could ask why didn’t God prevent? It is hard to come up with a satisfactory answer. Maybe part of why we are here, part of our job is to join with God by tuning our ears to hear the ones who have no voice, to hear the ones labeled nothing, to protect the vulnerable, to let Abel be as important a life as Cain.
We learn, as Genesis tells this story, that God does more than hear and know.God also asks. “Where is your brother?” It is the question of neighbor. Cain, for his part, lies and then tries to justify. And yet, even in his prevarication, he asks the best and abiding question—“Am I my brother’s keeper?” God responds with another question—what have you done? We note that Cain’s action does not terminate God’s interaction with him. Both Cain and God are pursuers in this story, but for far different purposes. God pursues for honesty not annihilation; for confession not vengeance, for community not self. In pursuit God asks three critical questions. “Why are you angry?” God is not saying ‘Don’t be angry.’ Instead, God says ‘tell me about your anger… tell me about your fear…tell me about your hurt…tell me about your loss.’ It is the invitation to go deeper and not displace. “Where is your brother?” It is a core religious question. As Tyler Mayfield describes it, “God’s question has expanded from the earlier ‘Where are you?’ posed to Adam in the Garden of Eden. It is no longer a matter of location of one’s self. Now God is concerned about the location of one’s relation…The word brother is used 7 times in this short story …Cain and Abel are both different and brothers…yet difference is not incompatible with being in relationship with someone.” (Father Abraham’s Many Children, pp. 58 – 59) God’s final question is the practical and ethical question—“What have you done?”It is a reminder that faith is about belief and always about more than belief; faith is about self and always about more than self. Jesus described faith this way—“when you have done it unto the least of these who are my brothers, you have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25: 40).
So what do we do with this story? First we note that living with difference is part of how we express our faith.Genesis goes on to tell us about Isaac and Ishmael; Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his brothers—where despite struggles, God works for reunion and reconciliation. When Moses brings down the 10 Commandments, we note 3 are about how we relate to God and 7 are about how we relate to each other. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he said loving God and loving neighbor are pieces of cloth woven together.Second, we note that in the story Genesis tells, while Cain suffers the consequences for what he has done, God does not leave him alone, nor does God leave him vulnerable to another act of retaliation or violence. A mark is placed on Cain and whatever it is, it is God’s way of saying violence is never the answer, never the solution. And third, we note that even if Cain’s question did not come from the purest of motives, it is still the abiding question. We notice God did not answer Cain’s question. We are left to answer it…Am I my brother’s and sister’s keeper? When Jesus was asked that question, he did not say the party of the first part is beholden to the party of the second part only under these conditions. Instead, he told a story of what it looks like to be a neighbor, employing a Samaritan as the unlikely good neighbor who is there.
To be sure this is not an easy story; but thanks be to God that Cain, Jesus, even Fred address
the essential question of neighbor.