A Reflection for Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Find today’s readings here.
“The man had relations with his wife Eve,
and she conceived and bore Cain, saying,
‘I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.
Next she bore his brother Abel.
Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.” (Genesis 4:1-2)
Today we have an account of the first family. And boy, what a family it was.
A man had two sons. Cain, the first born, is jealous of his younger brother. So far, typical sibling stuff. But then things take a turn for the worse. We all know how this story ends, but what does it have to say to us today?
A few things: God criticizes Cain for “being resentful and crestfallen.” On the one hand, you can understand why Cain is upset. His younger brother has been shown favor by God and he has not. What’s more, it’s not clear why. But there is a lesson: “If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.” In other words, don’t compare yourself to others. Focus on your own life instead, and don’t let the demon of jealousy be your master.
Cain clearly doesn’t get it, and sins in a dramatic way. “What have you done!” God says, learning of Abel’s murder. It’s a horrible moment, but also a fundamentally revealing one. Cain chooses to act out of vengeance—and God does not stop him. Cain makes a choice and has to live with the consequences. This is the essence of the human drama, played out in the very first pages of Genesis. We have a choice to listen to God, or not.
What happens when we ignore God? In Genesis, God becomes angry, and Cain is cursed to roam the earth for his sins. In today’s Gospel, Jesus gets frustrated too, when the Pharisees press him for a sign. Like God the Father, he is upset when people don’t understand him and his message. But his response is quite different. Instead of lashing out in anger, “he sighed from the depth of his spirit”—a phrase that I hope makes it onto a bumper sticker someday.
Cain screwed up, big time. People let Jesus down. These are things to reflect on when we encounter sin in our own life. We live in a fallen world, no doubt. But we always have the choice to say yes to God.
