Trinity 11
Gen
4:1-15
8/20/23
Eppie and
Pauline Friedman were twins who were born in Iowa in 1918. Like so many twins, they shared a unique bond
with one another and grew up doing everything together. The two were inseparable. In fact, they had a
double wedding ceremony as they both wore the same dress.
Despite this
close relationship, troubles arose in 1954.
That year, Eppie took over the advice column, “Ask Ann Landers” at the
Chicago Sun-Times. Three months later,
Pauline started her own advice column “Dear Abby” at the San Fransisco
Chronicle.
Eppie saw
this move as a hostile gesture. The two became bitter professional rivals. “Dear Abby” became the world’s most widely syndicated
newspaper column with 110 million readers.
“Ask Ann Landers” was close behind with 90 million readers. The competing columns created a division
between the sisters. It is reported that
Pauline offered “Dear Abby” at a reduced rate to their hometown’s Sioux City
Journal if the paper did not run “Ask Ann Landers.” The feud continued through
most of the rest of their life, and even poisoned the relationship between
their children.
In our Old
Testament lesson today we hear about the original sibling rivalry as Cain kills
Abel. We don’t know about the
relationship between the two brothers as they grew up. But we learn that Cain’s
jealousy about his brother caused him to commit fratricide. In Cain we see how
sin operates in our lives. And our text leads to recognize that the blood of
Jesus gives us forgiveness.
Adam and Eve
were created in God’s image. They knew
God as God wants to be known, and lived perfectly according to God’s will. They lived in the Garden of Eden where God
abundantly provided for their every need.
God had told
Adam and Eve that they could eat of every tree of the garden, except for the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By not eating of this tree, the pair
showed that they feared, loved, and trusted in God above all things.
However, the
devil tempted Eve with the thought that God was holding out on them. They could be more – they could be like God –
if they would just eat of the forbidden tree.
Both Eve and Adam ate of the tree, and in doing so they brought sin into
the world. In their sin they lost the
image of God, and everything changed for humanity.
We see the
presence of sin immediately in their children. Adam and Eve go from being the
perfect couple, to the first dysfunctional family. They had two sons, Cain and Abel. We learn
that Cain was a farmer, while Abel kept sheep.
In the course of time, both brothers
brought an offering to the Lord. Cain
brought an offering of the fruit of the ground.
Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. We are
told that the Lord had regard for Abel’s offering, but not for Cain’s.
We aren’t told why this was the case. However, the very different description of
the two offerings probably provides us with the answer. Abel brought the
firstborn of this flock and offered their fat portions. He brought the first and the best. However,
we are only told that Cain brought an offering of his harvest.
The reference to the offerings of Cain and
Able leads us to ponder our own offering. What does our offering say about the
place God has in our life? Do we only return to God the leftovers? Is our offering simply a matter of going
through motions like Cain? Or do we give
with the same attitude as Abel? We learn
from Abel that our offering to God needs to be a priority in our life. We need to continue to consider whether it truly
represents a response to the blessings God had given to us.
The Lord did not have regard for Cain’s
offering. We learn that Cain was very
angry about this and his face fell. God
said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why
has your face fallen?
If you do well, will you not be
accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the
door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” He warned Cain about the sin that was present
in his life.
The
Lord’s words to Cain teach us about the danger of sin in our lives. Sin does not remain still. Where it is
allowed to remain, it grows and infects more.
James tells us, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed
by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and
sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
God told
Cain that he needed to rule over the sin in his life. He needed to struggle against it. This is what we do as the baptized children
of God. The Spirit who has given us new life in baptism is the One who enables
this struggle. Paul told the Romans, “So then, brothers, we are
debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh
you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.”
Cain didn’t put to death the deeds of
the body. Instead, he remained in his
anger. And that anger caused hatred to grow from feeling into action. Our text tells us that when Cain was in the
field with Abel, he rose up against and his brother and killed him.
In words that are reminiscent of when
God came to Adam and Eve after their sin, God spoke to Cain. God asked where
Abel was. Cain’s snarky response was to
say, “I do not know; am I
my brother's keeper?” Then God said, “What have you done? The voice of your
brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.” God said that Cain’s punishment was that the
ground was now cursed for him. It would
not produce for Cain, and instead he would have to wander the land.
Sin
entered into the world through Adam and Eve.
Immediately we then learn in their son how anger and hate led to murder. God’s word teaches us that in his eyes, these
are sins that make us guilty of murder.
Jesus said that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to
judgment. John tells us, “Everyone who
hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life
abiding in him.”
Our anger
and hate bring God’s judgment. So does
our lust, and jealousy, and coveting.
These sins cry out for God’s judgment just as Abel’s blood cried out to
God. But because of his love for us God
does not give us judgment. Instead, he
gives us forgiveness. He does this
because of Jesus’ blood.
In the Old Testament, God said that life was
in the blood and that was why the blood of an animal would be used in the
sacrifices at the tabernacle. Those
sacrifices pointed forward to Jesus Christ.
He shed his blood as he gave his life in your place. Peter says, “you were ransomed from the
futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as
silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb
without blemish or spot.”
God has judged your sin. He did it in Jesus Christ when he died on the
cross. Jesus shed his blood in death to
win you forgiveness. John tells us that
“the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” The sacrifice of Christ
in your place allows you to be a saint – a holy one in God’s eyes.
Sin brings death. No sooner has sin entered into the world than
we hear about the death of Abel. Since
the Fall, sin has brought death to all people.
In the next chapter Moses gives us a list of the descendants of Adam. First off we hear that Adam, “fathered a son in his own likeness,
after his image, and named him Seth.”
Having lost the image of God, Adam fathers a child in his own image.
And then death rings out as the genealogy repeats about each descendant “and he
died.”
Jesus did not die because of his own sin.
He had none. He died for ours. But he passed through death in order to
defeat it forever. Christ died for our
sins, but he did not stay dead. Instead,
he was the second Adam who came to restore the life that should be ours. He did this as he rose from the dead on
Easter. Paul tells us, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
The blood of Jesus
has won forgiveness. It does for each
one of us. So that we may know this,
Jesus has given us the Sacrament of the Altar.
Here he places his blood shed on the cross into your mouth. He gives to you as an individual the very
price he paid to take away your sins. Because of the Sacrament, you know that
this forgiveness is for you.
Jesus gave himself
into death on the cross for us. He shed
his blood to win us forgiveness. Now his Spirit causes us to live in this
forgiveness as we share his love with others.
John wrote, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us,
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” The sacrificial love of Christ becomes the
reason that we sacrifice in order to help others. As John went on to say, “Little children, let
us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
In our text today we
hear about how Cain killed Abel. We see what sin did in our world from the start.
We find here a warning that we cannot allow sin to fester and grow in our
life. In repentance we seek to put it to
death by the work of the Spirit. And we
live in the assurance that because of Jesus blood we have forgiveness before
our Father in heaven.
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