The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to consider the attitudes and misconceptions that distort our understanding of being our brother’s keeper.
Our brother's keeper
The reading from the Book of Genesis presents the events leading to Cain murdering Abel.
* [4:2] Some suggest the story reflects traditional strife between the farmer (Cain) and the nomad (Abel), with preference for the latter reflecting the alleged nomadic ideal of the Bible. But there is no disparagement of farming here, for Adam was created to till the soil. The story is about two brothers (the word “brother” occurs seven times) and God’s unexplained preference for one, which provokes the first murder. The motif of the preferred younger brother will occur time and again in the Bible, e.g., Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David (1 Sm 16:1–13).1
Psalm 50 declares the acceptable sacrifice is connected to our discipline.
* [Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf. Mi 6:1–8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Ps 50:1–6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Ps 50:7–15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Ps 50:16–21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Ps 50:22–23; cf. Is 1:19–20).2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus rejects the demand of Pharisees for a sign.
* [8:11–12] The objection of the Pharisees that Jesus’ miracles are unsatisfactory for proving the arrival of God’s kingdom is comparable to the request of the crowd for a sign in Jn 6:30–31. Jesus’ response shows that a sign originating in human demand will not be provided; cf. Nm 14:11, 22.3
Chas Kestermeier, S.J. suggests that we do not want to be free of our family ties and values in order to follow Christ more freely and closely. Only as we learn to see our lives with Christ’s eyes can we begin to understand that in order to become the people that God calls us to be, the people that we really wish to be in our deepest hearts, we have to be willing to leave home on every level, to constantly be “off to the other towns” as Jesus wants to go – and to learn his love, his healing touch, his passion for us.
We cannot see that, in following where the Spirit leads us, will give us a whole new and mature family wherever we are, people who share our goals and enthusiasm for God. And maybe we might even get to the point where we love everyone we meet with a love that is truly godly, a love which sees every person as a mother or a father, a brother or a sister, a little one who depends on us to show them what real love is.4
Don Schwager quotes “Why does this generation seek a sign,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"But for what sign from heaven were they asking? Maybe that he should hold back the sun, or curb the moon, or bring down thunderbolts, or change the direction of the wind, or something like that?... In Pharaoh's time there was an enemy from whom deliverance was needed (Exodus 3-15). But for one who comes among friends, there should be no need of such signs." (excerpt from GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, HOMILY 53.3)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 4:1-15, 25 asks if we know someone who may be acting in a hurtful manner, either toward us, someone else, or even themselves? As he did with Cain, God wants that person to know that he is a loving and forgiving God. He wants everyone to know that he will even leave behind the ninety-nine to go after that one lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14).
But God calls you to be his ambassador in this mission of compassion and mercy. You can reach out to someone who seems confused, hurt, or lost. Begin by engaging them in conversation. Ask them how they are doing and be genuinely interested in their response. Offer to help. If the person is open, you can ask to pray with them, and you can also promise to pray for them. Even these small things may be a step out of your comfort zone, especially if the person is acting in a way that is hurtful, but God will bless your efforts. God has offered each of us, in our weakness, sin, and hurt, the same compassion that he offered Cain. It’s the same compassion that he offers to everyone. Let’s follow his example and be a witness of his love. “Jesus, teach me how to treat people with the love and compassion you have for them.”6
Friar Jude Winkler explores the etiology of the passage from Genesis as it is connected to mystery in ancient conflict, jealousy, selfishness, and the “croucher”. We are our “brother’s keeper. Friar Jude reminds us that the sign desired by the Pharisees was for absolute proof and faith requires trust.
Barbara Holmes shares the internal shift that led her to write her book Race and the Cosmos.
The physics and cosmology revolution that is 100 years old has not been translated into the ordinary world of any of us, and specifically not in communities of color. The world that scientists describe now is so different than the world that I grew up in or even imagined. According to physicists, this is what the world is like: it is a universe permeated with movement and energy that vibrates and pulses with access to many dimensions. . . . We are all interconnected, not just spiritually or imaginally, but actually . . . and the explicate [or manifested] order that’s all around us makes us think that we’re separate. Finally, I learned that ideas of dominance are predicated on a Newtonian clockwork universe. So, like dominoes, you push one and they all fall down, and everything is in order. But quantum physics tells us that the world is completely different. Particles burst into existence in unpredictable ways, observations affect the observed, and dreams of order and rationality are not the building blocks of the universe.7
The actions we take toward our brothers and sisters are rooted in our attitudes about our place in a universe of mystery where connectedness and cooperation are in harmony with faith in goodness and beauty as proclaimed by the Word of God.
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