Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

Such was the question Cain posed to God after God approached him asking where Abel was. Of course God already knew the answer, proven by His rebuke of Cain immediately following, so it seems God was looking to make known something else. But what?

Actually, we do not have to dig far to find the answer. I touched on this before, back in February 2009, in a discussion on the community aspects of Salvation. The point made then was that salvation is not just an individual affair, but by its nature saves us into a community. The main passage noting this is from Genesis 2:18 when God comments “It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a helper fit for him.” Just as I stated before, while the emphasis is on the institution of marriage, it also introduces man’s need to live in community with other humans. So when we come to Cain’s rhetorical comment, understanding the gravity of his sin becomes even greater, and while we may have never committed murder, we find that we too can be guilty of another sin which Cain committed.

God created us to look out for one another, to be each other’s “helper.” Throughout Scripture we find various “one-another” commands, all geared toward helping each other get through life. The idea is loving support, being there for each other in both good and bad times. Praising each other for good things done and rebuking when we allow evil to creep in. In effect, to be each other’s keeper. We are created to live in community with each other, and the breakdown of this communal living is what is so grotesquely on display in Cain’s statement. May we not fall into that same trap.