When Cain and Abel Meet Again

This reflection originally appeared in today’s entry of Daily Grace: The Mockingbird Devotional, Vol. 2:

Now the man knew 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. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell …

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. (Gen 4:1-5, 8)

It can be very tempting to read the Old and New Testaments like a before-and-after home makeover: No one understood the space before the designers came in! What’s with the old carpets and wallpaper? Was this even a real house?

But the truth is, the love and forgiveness of Jesus stretches all the way back to those first few sinners who come stumbling out of Eden.

I always struggled with the story of Cain and Abel — especially after I had children. It seemed so bleak to me that after everything Adam and Eve have been through, they would raise one child who murders another.

Until I understood the gospel, I could not coalesce the God of the Hebrews with the God of my Memaw. But as I came to understand the redemption of the cross as a once-and-for-all-time action, I began to see Jesus everywhere. I even started to see him in these painful early stories.

Make no mistake, Jesus is present when Cain kills his brother Abel. I believe Jesus holds the hand of Abel as he takes his last breath. And since we know that Jesus does not hesitate to keep company with the most violent of offenders, I believe that he places his hand on Cain’s shoulder as God pronounces his curse upon Cain. Because Jesus knows this would not be the final word for this violent and failed family story.

Some years ago, a friend shared a quote with me that I think about all the time. The Lutheran pastor Ben Maton once preached, “All heaven will go quiet as Cain and Abel embrace.” We cannot forget that even scripture does not get the final word. Heaven does. And the forgiving face of Jesus will meet us there, new and old sinners alike. And when we encounter our own life’s “Abel,” because we all have one, I have no doubt that heaven will fall quiet then, too.