Today’s scripture: Genesis 4:1-16 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Angie Best):
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
I have a sharp tongue. I can be sarcastic. Add impatience and a desire for things to be done a certain way, and my mouth can be a dangerous weapon. It only gets worse if I’ve been hurt, or I feel backed in a corner. Someone once ended a romantic relationship with me, and I was heartbroken. She did the deed badly, over email, and I am embarrassed to remember the voicemail I left in return. It was scathing, and I crafted it to guarantee it would hit her most tender spots. I wrote it out first, to maximize the amount of pain I would cause. Later, she would tell me, she listened to it, in agony, over and over again, until a kind friend finally erased it for her. My words were cruel, and I suspect she can still recall excerpts of that murderous message.
As painful as that vindictive act was to her, she wasn’t the only one to suffer from that onslaught. It left its mark on me. Every time I remember it, I am confronted with the harsh reality of my selfish impulsivity to destroy the spirit of another to avoid addressing my own pain and discomfort. I am horrified at the damage I have done to others. I may not have murdered my brother like Cain, but I can’t count the times I’ve slain the spirits of those around me. Like Cain, I’m left picking up the pieces and having to face God one more time with the harsh reality of my sin.
When God confronts Cain, he leaves a mark on him. No one has any idea what the mark looked like — Scripture isn’t clear. Throughout the years, theologians have suggested it was a brightly colored tattoo of the name of the divine, an incision, or even horns. There was a time when dark skin was suggested as the curse, a theory used to later justify racial discrimination and the African slave trade. Some researchers guessed it was something he had to carry with him, such as a coat, or even a dog. Still others have suggested it was a physical ailment, like trembling or extreme anxiety.
We don’t know. But, just as a wedding ring is an outward sign of an inner commitment, the mark Cain bore was an outward expression of his inner torment. He was changed by his sin. When we set out to hurt others, we cannot walk away unscathed. It’s impossible. Our sin destroys us just as it destroys those in our path.
Not only is Cain marked, he left his family behind. He wasn’t sent away; his sin caused him to become untethered to those he loved. His very presence outside of his home territory is a sign of his sin, consigned to live east of Eden. We long to go home, but when we hurt others, we become more isolated, more withdrawn, and home doesn’t even feel comfortable because we can’t escape ourselves. We become exiles from paradise, expatriates from our native land who long to find our home in God.
Like Cain, we are the victims of our own hostility. Yet God doesn’t abandon us. We hear in this passage the voice of both law and grace. Sin cannot be ignored and justified. Cain must pay a penalty for his actions. Actions have consequences, sometimes painful ones. But the God who pronounces the sentence also makes available to the criminal God’s protection. Cain is both banned and blessed. He leaves God’s presence, but not God’s protection. His mark identifies him as a child of God, and everywhere he goes he carries that loving protection with him — carred by sin, covered in grace.
I am Cain. I will always be Cain. But the good news is that I can come home. By God’s grace, I can master the sin crouching at the door. I do not always know what God will do or why, nor can I grasp the depth and height and breadth of God’s mercy and grace. But I do know that God is that spark of love within each of us, and God is that call of love to take better care of my brothers and sisters — for both of our sakes.
Prayer for the day: Father, open my eyes that I might see the people around me as people whom You created and whom You have placed in my path for a purpose. Teach me that I am my brother’s and sister’s keeper.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.