11/9/22

I like to think I’m pretty diplomatic when dealing with people, but when I was younger . . . oh, boy! I really ticked some folks off over the years. The second angriest I ever made someone was when I told a choir member, “If God can’t do anything with you, I don’t know why I think I could.” While true, it wasn’t the wisest thing to say! The angriest I’ve ever made anyone was when someone was telling me about their daughter’s misbehavior and I said, “Where do you think she learned it?” Again, not very wise but SO very true! Thankfully, I have learned discretion (although in recent years, I frequently ask myself, “Did I really say that out loud?!?”).

Whenever you see a child misbehave or out of control, you can be sure they learned it somewhere. There’s a lot of truth in the old saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Growing up, I remember the old folks talking about family “streaks” like, “the Smiths have a lazy streak,” or “the Joneses have a drinking streak.”

We all have a sinful streak. What matters is what we do with it! Do we just give in to it (“I can’t help it; it’s just who I am!”) or do we - or can we - master it?

In the story of Cain and Abel, we see the story of their parents’ disobedience repeated - and it bears a horrible fruit of its own. The context is worship and the victim is a brother. While Eve was talked into her sin, Cain can't be talked out of it - nor will he confess it, nor will he accept his punishment.

The story is so familiar, you might be tempted to breeze over it, but I believe it’s worth a careful reconsideration. After being driven from the garden, the first couple began to be fruitful and multiply (humans have never had trouble obeying that command from God!). The first son was Cain, whose name means “to get” as in “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” The second son was Abel, whose name means “breath,” an unfortunate foreshadowing of his brief life.

We’re not told why (there are lots of unanswered questions in this story), but the boys offer sacrifices. Maybe God commanded it or perhaps their parents encouraged them to do it? We don’t know. But we do know that, for whatever reason, Abel, who keeps herds, offers up the best of his flock, while Cain, a farmer like his daddy, offers up “an offering of some of the fruits of the ground.” An offering. Some.

I think it’s pretty clear why God had regard for Abel’s offering but not for Cain’s.

Cain is angry and his face betrays him. The Lord confronts him - I wrote about this last week: God is giving Cain a chance to straighten up when God asks him, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it!” The word for “crouching” can also mean coiled, like a serpent ready to strike

That last part, “you must master it,” is tricky to translate because the Hebrew word, timshel, has three different meanings. First, it can be an invitation: “you may master it.” Second, it can be a challenge: “you must master it.” Third, it can be a promise: “you shall master it.”

But, whether an invitation, a challenge or a promise, the point is that Cain did not have to sin. He did not have to nurse the grudge against his brother until his anger raged out of control. Cain had a choice.

Unfortunately, we know what he chose. The first murder is described without comment, except for the double reminder that the victim is his brother: “Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.”

Often, discussions of Cain’s story get sidetracked by unanswerable questions (where did Cain get his wife?) and the point of the story is lost: Cain had a choice. We might not be tempted to murder our brother, but temptation is a daily reality in our lives. However, sin is not inevitable. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 10:13, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” There is always a way out.

Genesis 4 presents sin as a crouching animal, a coiled snake, ready to strike. Sin is not just a breaking of rules, but an active force ready to ambush Cain. Sin is larger than Cain, and takes on a lethal life of its own. We can hear an echo of Genesis 4 in Paul’s description of sin in Romans 7: “For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. . . But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. . . So I find it to be a law that, when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.” Sin is coiled at the door, ready to ambush us

The choice is up to Cain; Cain can rule over it. In Genesis 1, the humans ruled over the plants and animals. In Genesis 3, in the disordered and perverted world after sin, the man rules over the woman. Now, it is Cain called on to take responsibility for himself – he has the capability to master the beast at the door.

As is often the case, one of the most important words is one of the smallest: “if.” If you do well . . . if you do not do well . . . the answer isn’t set in stone, predestined before the world was founded. God leaves Cain with the choice. And the word to Cain, “you may/shall/must master it” – however you translate it – stands before Cain and before us an invitation, a challenge and a promise.

The choice to obey or not obey God is up to us as well. I believe Paul had Genesis 4 in mind when he wrote, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, so that you obey their desires. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12,14). It’s no accident Paul uses words like “dominion” and “rule” – they are echoes from these early chapters of Genesis. Unlike Cain, we have the power of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in us to help us say “no” to sin and temptation.

Cain had a choice. We have a choice. Choose wisely.

Blessings,
Pastor Terry