Where Is Your Brother?
Being a big brother or big sister is one of those callings in life that comes with trust, power, and responsibility. In Genesis 4:1-16, God asked Cain, "Where Is Your Brother?" Cain flippantly replied, "Am I my brother's keeper?" We can ask ourselves the same question. So, then, who is our "brother"? May 29, 2011.
FBI special agents arrested Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, Daniel Melzoga, and he was sentenced last month for kicking a compliant inmate in the head several times with pointed cowboy boots, then writing false reports to conceal his misconduct (http://sanantonio.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/sa042111a.htm). The assistant attorney general promised, “We will not hesitate to prosecute officers who cross the line and injure those they are sworn to protect.” A badge on the chest, a cleanly pressed military uniform, or a preacher’s robe bestow incredible power and trust, which is why these positions of authority demand a high degree of responsibility. When that trust is broken and power is abused, the pain is deep and it often hurts innocent people. Talk to any victim of clergy abuse or the 20-year-old Hispanic male unjustly arrested because of racial profiling.
Being a big brother or big sister is one of those callings in life that comes with similar trust, power, and responsibility. Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, was a big brother. Big brothers are supposed to take their little brothers along to the movies, treat their little brothers respectfully when they wrestle, watch over their little brothers at school, and when mom or dad call, “Where is Your Brother?” big brothers are supposed to know. Or at least care.
Adam and Eve raised their children in a faith-filled family that feared, loved, and trusted in the Lord above all things. No doubt Adam and Eve’s children heard many times the story of their parents’ first sin, and just as many times heard about the great mercy of the Lord’s forgiveness made real through the special descendant. The children learned to bring sacrifices to the Lord, offering income or possessions to him as an act of worship that says, “All I have is yours, Lord, as I am yours.” Except for Cain’s offering on this day, and perhaps not only on this day, when the Lord wasn’t pleased because he knew Cain’s offering wasn’t such faith-filled worship. The Bible calls Cain’s offering outright evil, not because he gave turnips and Abel gave T-bones. Cain simply didn’t believe in this stuff, even though he went through the motions, and somehow the Lord let Cain know he wasn’t happy about it. And that really ticked him off. He got angry at God. He got angry at his brother, “and while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”
“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’”
“’I don’t know,’ he replied, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”
If you’re responsible for someone and you’re asked by your parent or your boss what’s going on with that person or where they’re at and you say you don’t know, that’s not good. If you follow it up by saying you really don’t care, that’s a lot worse! Cain killed his brother before they were in the field that day. Cain killed his brother the moment he didn’t care about him while he was still alive.
Murderer! “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him” (1 John 3:15). The fifth commandment is not for display only on the death rows around the world, but in our kitchens, cubicles, and classrooms, our Facebook pages and e-mail outbox, and each of our histories dripping with the blood of the innocent victims we’ve killed with our hate, with our anger, with our uncaring “Am I their keeper?” Murderers! And then we cover up our lack of love with religion, bringing offerings and worship to the Lord as if everything is okay. But the blood we leave behind cries with Abel’s blood for vengeance, for our blood, cursing us with death. The Lord thunders “let there be blood.” And there is blood. It calls out with such divine decibels that no curse from others’ blood can be heard. This blood of a murdered God spilled once on the ground beneath the cross spills today onto our lips and into our lives through the forgiveness we receive in the sacrament. It cries, “It is finished!” and, “Father, forgive them,” and, “You will be with me in paradise.” This blood is the antidote to our hate, our anger, our prejudice, and our indifference. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins, and purifies us to be a people that are God’s very own. So close to him that he calls us his family – we are his children and we are Jesus’ own brothers. The Bible says that Jesus “had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). Where is Your Brother? There he is, walking the shores of Galilee, calling simple fishermen and sinful prostitutes into his kingdom, teaching the simple and the lost, the confused and the skeptic. There he is offering a new life to those who’ve made a mess of theirs, and those who don’t have it all together. There he is healing the sick whom he doesn’t really need for some kind of health care quota but they need him for the life and love he brings. There he is, your brother, on the cross, now in the tomb, now in the sky, now in the sacrament, now in you and in your life by faith. “You are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20), he promises.
Jesus Christ, your brother who gave up his life for you, now risen from the dead gives his life into you, his resurrected, glorified, strong and empowering life. Hate cannot color you with prejudice unless you want it to. Anger cannot control your decisions and behavior unless you let it. Indifference cannot keep you from caring unless you put on the world’s blinders of selfishness. “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19) promises your living Savior about your eternal life and also your life today. Your connection to Christ puts to death your hate, your anger, your indifference and brings to life your love, your peace and kindness, your caring and compassion. “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity, how can the love of God be in him?” (1 John 3:17) the Bible asks. You and I can’t give all our possessions to all the needy all the time, and that’s okay as long as our hearts have pity and compassion, as long as our decisions are made in the love of Christ poured upon us. Search your heart. Find Jesus Christ there, his dying and his rising. His, “Do not be afraid,” and his, “Feed my lambs.” Who has he made you to be and who needs you to be like Christ to him or her or them? How can you better love and care for others already in your circle of responsibility – with Christ’s pity and compassion and perfect “keeping” already in you?
“50 year old construction worker Wesley Autrey was taking his two daughters to school on the subway. While waiting for the train, a fellow passenger … had a seizure and fell off the platform, landing between the two rails. With the train arriving in mere seconds, Autrey jumped from the platform and pushed the young man as deep into the ground as he could go. The incoming train rolled over both men, passing within inches of their heads. When the onlookers stopped screaming, Autrey exhorted them to ‘tell the girls their father is okay.’ The transit authority then arrived, cut the power, and extricated the lucky pair. Autrey refused medical treatment, and calmly took his kids to school. His only regret was that his hat got greasy” (http://listverse.com/2010/10/09/top-10-real-life-good-samaritans/).
Where is Your Brother? Standing on the street corner, in the womb of a young lady considering an abortion, sitting next to you in the pew. Where is Your Brother? A classmate, a roommate, your life’s mate. Where is Your Brother? The new kid in the band, the elderly neighbor in a nursing home, the lost soul not sitting in any pew at all today.“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). I am my brother’s keeper. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on May 29, 2011
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