Cain and Abel A Case Of Sibling Rivalry?

First reading
Genesis 4:1-15,25 ©

The mark of Cain

The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. ‘I have acquired a man with the help of the Lord’ she said. She gave birth to a second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering for the Lord, while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering. But he did not look with favor on Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast. The Lord asked Cain, ‘Why are you angry and downcast? If you are well disposed, ought you not to lift up your head? But if you are ill disposed, is not sin at the door like a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?’ Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out’; and while they were in the open country, Cain set on his brother Abel and killed him.

  The Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I do not know’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s guardian?’ ‘What have you done?’ the Lord asked. ‘Listen to the sound of your brother’s blood, crying out to me from the ground. Now be accursed and driven from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hands. When you till the ground it shall no longer yield you any of its produce. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth.’ Then Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. See! Today you drive me from this ground. I must hide from you, and be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth. Why whoever comes across me will kill me!’ ‘Very well, then,’ the Lord replied ‘if anyone kills Cain, sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for him.’ So the Lord put a mark on Cain, to prevent whoever might come across him from striking him down.

  Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth, ‘because God has granted me other offspring’ she said ‘in place of Abel, since Cain has killed him.’

The Family is the building block of our world and it was so from the very beginning. A family is like a capstone in an arch, it feels pressure from all directions and yet it holds together and makes the structure stronger.  While I think we can agree this is a good simile, even the first family had its challenges.  Two brothers in two different lines of work, one a farmer and the other a shepherd.  Both of them get together and make a sacrifice to God.  Caine brought produce and Abel brought a lamb.  They sacrifice and in some way it is shown that God accepts the lamb of Abel and rejects the produce department that Caine brought.  Then they went for a walk and Cain gave Abel a stone shampoo and killed him and left his body to rot. God asks Cain where Abel is.  Cain pops a smart answer to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?"  God then reveals that He knew what happened to his brother and threw him out of the family.  Cain was afraid that when he went among other people that they would see him and kill him on sight. So God put him in the first witness protection program and marked him in some way so that he would be safe.

But how did this come about?  Surely one sacrifice to God wouldn't precipitate this kind of violence against one's brother, would it?  There were things going on in the background that we are not a party to. We get a hint of this when God tells Cain that if he does well he could lift up his head and be proud.  So there was something in Cains life that was spoiling his relationship with his brother and with God. 

I bear the mark of Cain in some respects as we all do.  Our family life is not perfect.  The Brady Bunch is a fictional family so are the Waltons and Aunt B in the Andy Griffith show does not exist either. We have to deal with the family that we were born into and what goes on in the background of family life can resemble the story of Cain and Abel, just without the physical violence.  

Be kind to your family, be ready to forgive and forget.  Do not resentments build up in your relationships with them and remember that they are beloved of God just like you are!  Be aware that you are not dealing with those who are burdened with perfection.  They will have their issues and foibles to contend with just as you will.  Overlook their issues as much as you can unless doing so puts you or your family in danger.  God built the family as the building block of society.  Remember yours and solidify it with prayer even if you never see them in the course of your life again.