Who am I? Cain or Abel?

Alexander Solzhenitsyn grew up in the Black Sea region of the Soviet Union. He proudly served in the Soviet army in World War II, defending the motherland, eventually earning the rank of captain. Then in 1945, ten days after successfully leading a dangerous reconnaissance mission, he was called to his commander’s headquarters. This was in itself, not unusual. Perhaps he expected a commendation. It was not to be. Instead he was ordered to turn over his weapon and was stripped of his rank. An official stamped document declared him to be an enemy of the people. What an amazing turn of events. It turns out that Solzhenitsyn had the audacity to criticize the exalted leader Stalin in a private correspondence with an old friend. Punishment followed. He was sentenced to an eight-year long incarceration in the Gulag torture camps of Siberia.

It took years for Solzhenitsyn to come to grips with his original support of the Soviet system. In his classical book, the Gulag Archipelago, he wrote: “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

I don’t like that quote. After all, am I not a good person? But then, why did so many ordinary German citizens hang Nazi symbols of support from their homes when they weren’t required to do so? A common Jewish question is: “If you were faced by the secret police and ordered: “Go here if you are a Jew. Go there if you are not. Where would you go?” Perhaps this is a question that we should not be so quick to answer.

What do most of us of do when the full force of evil stands in front of us as a mighty dragon? I suspect that we likely would put our heads down and hope that it will leave us alone. Yes, a few will stand and fight, but the natural inclination is to either hide or run. Unfortunately, this means that the dragon only gets larger and more fearsome, devouring everything in its path.

There is another more pressing question. What if the dragon appears as an angel of light? In this case, we will be flooded with misinformation and subtle manipulation of our biases. Will we along with our friends and relatives, overlook the red flags and begin to join up? Eventually that angel of light undoubtedly will reveal its true nature. But will it be too late? When tempted to make snap judgments and then do or say things that are hurtful, will we resist? Sure, we’ll be conflicted, that is, if we are even aware of what is going on. But more likely, we would think: “It is such a little thing and the cause is so important.” Unfortunately, one thing leads to another and in the end, we’ll be active participants, justifying our actions with rational arguments.

Turning back to Cain and Abel, which one am I? Of course, I’d like to say, I’m Abel; I would never do something so evil as to kill my brother. Actually, I am a younger brother, separated by more than a decade from my other siblings. I was my father’s favorite. I knew it and so did both my brother and sister. I liked the attention, but I never gave it much thought. Maybe I felt entitled. Why? I don’t know. We tend to adjust to the situation that we are in, especially if it is a position of privilege.

Not so with my brother. Although I looked up to him, he was angry. I was oblivious. As I grew older, I sensed his hostility, but I didn’t know why. Perhaps I didn’t want to know why. I think that finally I’ve come to understand.

Abel, the favored younger brother tended the flocks. Cain was in the field working with his father, pulling thorns and working hard. No farm equipment was to be had that could make things easier. Cain thought: “Abel has the easy job. That spoiled kid can just sit back and observe the sheep.” Resentment grew. His “face became downcast” and “sin was crouching at the door.” The breaking point came when Abel got the idea to offer a sacrifice. He could choose from his valuable flock. What did Cain have? Some grains of wheat maybe. So, he took what he had, threw it at the altar, and then walked away.

Of course, Cain had a choice in all of this. He could directly harness the resentment and bitterness that was growing in his heart and become stronger for it. Or, he could let it fester. We know his choice. Murder followed. There are always consequences. Cain was thrown out of the family and left to wander on his own. He no longer would even have the privilege of contributing to the family’s well-being. It was more than he could bear. Even worse things followed. A seven-fold desire for revenge festered as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground. Generations later after Lamech slew a person, the desire for revenge rose seventy-seven-fold. A victim might think that revenge is sweet, but then the violence escalates. If it is left unchecked it will escalate and destroy everything. This doesn’t apply only to murder. It also applies to subtle accusations, gossip, political ideologies, past wrongs, the lust for power, and in many other ways.

Jesus presents an alternative. If someone offends, he tells us to forgive them not seven times, but seventy-seven. On the cross, he did not call for revenge, but forgiveness. In other words, forgiveness defeats vengeance. As the book of Hebrews states (12:24), the death of Jesus is superior to the blood of Abel.

So, am I Abel? What if my brother was the favorite? What if I were in second place? Would I have been resentful? Could I have dealt with my resentment? More directly, what if I were Cain? Would I have killed my brother? I don’t think I can say. The point is this. It is easy to read the Bible and identify with the good guys. After all, we would never grumble and turn on Moses during forty years in the desert. We wouldn’t sell our birthright for a pot of soup. We wouldn’t commit adultery with the wife of a loyal subject. We would not be a member of the evil tribes living in Canaan. But not so fast! Given their time and their life experiences, we could easily have been any of these.

How does this apply to us today? It is easy to judge those who say or do things that we consider offensive. It is easy to think that we are in the right and they are in the wrong, whoever they might be. It is easy to stigmatize people who we don’t even know. Maybe it would be better to consider what it is like to walk in their shoes. What are they thinking and why? How did they come to be as they are? Jesus tells us to avoid judging. He warns that the standards we use will point right back at us. That is a scary thought, isn’t it? It certainly gives me pause.

By Dan Harvey, Author of Wrestling with Faith, http://www.secondlooknow.com
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