Genesis 4,1-16 4621
13. Trinitatis 058
Beheading of John the Baptizer
29. August 2021
1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, we most heartily thank You that You have granted us to live in this accepted time, when we may hear Your holy gospel, know Your fatherly will, and behold Your Son, Jesus Christ! We pray, Most Merciful Father: Let the light of Your holy Word remain with us, and so govern our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may never forsake Your Word, but remain steadfast in it, and finally obtain eternal salvation. Amen. (Veit Dietrich)
2. »And God looked upon Abel and his gift, but for Cain and his offering He paid no attention. So Cain was greatly grieved, and his face was downcast. Yahweh God said to Cain: „Why are you deeply sorrowful, and why has your face become downcast? If you brought rightly, rightly but not divided/distributed, you sinned? Be still, for sin desires your submission, and you will rule over it.“«
3. We learn from the Small Catechism: you shall not murder. What does this mean? A: we should fear in love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.
4. In Genesis 4, we hear of Cain and Abel, the first murder and the consequences of this horrible crime. The story is told to us in such a way that we can very well recognize ourselves in Cain (Martens ¶4), as Jesus taught us in that even if we are angry with our neighbor then we have broken the Commandment (Matthew 5,22). Among many things that the story teaches us, 3 in particular stand out:
i. sometimes we cannot understand God,
ii. sometimes we want to correct God and
iii. sometimes we cannot bear God’s questions.
5. The age-old question is: why did God regard Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s? The text simply states: but for Cain and his offering Yahweh paid no attention. Yahweh did not look upon and notice Cain’s sacrifice. The language in these verses describing their offerings implies both Abel and Cain prayed to God; and God gave Abel what he had prayed for but He did not give Cain what he had asked for. Cain became greatly grieved at this, so much so that his emotions were visibly seen upon his face; Cain was devastated that Yahweh did not notice his sacrifice or give heed to his prayer. Did Cain do something that offended Yahweh so that He ignored his sacrifice? Verse 7 indicates that Cain seemed to have offered his sacrifice but that there was something Cain did or did not do in regard to his sacrifice that caused Yahweh to ignore it. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain (Hebrews 11,4). As a result, Cain was sorrowful and downfallen that Yahweh had no regard for his sacrifice.
6. Like Cain, we don’t understand many things that God does or allows to happen in this world. Why is there still evil in this world? Why does God allow tragedy and distraction to occur as you did a few days ago in Kabul, Afghanistan? Why did God answer someone else’s prayer but did not answer mine? We often struggle with these and similar questions.
7. How one response to God in regard to things we don’t understand is key. Cain ignores what Yahweh tells him. His eyes go from lifted up in prayer to God in heaven to lowered inside himself, and in doing so Cain severs his communication with God. This breaking off of communication with God has the consequence that Cain now directed his rejection against his brother Abel (Martens ¶10). Cain cannot hurt God so he hurt his brother whom God had favored. Abel bears the brunt of Cain's revenge. How often do people do this even today. Many times revenge shown against someone is displaced vengeance toward God or another person whom they cannot direct it. So a person close by bears the revenge that seeks a release. Sometimes that misplaced vengeance costs people their lives, and Yahweh warned Cain not to walk down that dark path.
8. We easily set out on this dark path. God warns us to stop: don’t listen to your emotions, don’t fed the desire for revenge, but seek God’s will and be comforted by His words. But this is easier said than done. We convince ourselves of what we want even when it goes against what God wants. When we sin, God questions us. Cain, where is your brother? What have you done? Like Adam did, Cain attempted to hide his horrible sin but he cannot for God already knows and is aware of the tragedy. God confronts Cain with his guilt and with the punishment Cain knows he deserves (Martens ¶13). When we ponder the 10 Commandments, our conscience is troubled. We know we have sinned and there is no hiding it from God. We feel alienated from God and that we no longer have a place in His presence.
9. Our sinful deeds mark us as sinners. We know it. Everyone knows it. We know everyone else is a sinner too. The common response is to run away and alienate ourselves, particularly from God. That Old Cain in us is always the wanderer in fugitive from God and His presence.
10. But thanks be to God that is not the end of our story! Our HeavenlyFather has sent us another Shepherd, a Second Abel, who was killed in spilled His blood for us: Jesus Christ our Savior. With this Shepherd, God is unfolding once again the entire story of Cain and Abel (Martens ¶16). When we cannot understand God or endure His probing questions, we should look to Jesus — the crucified One. On the cross we see that God has drawn near to us, found us and reconciles us back to Himself. Jesus reminds us: My body was given for you and My blood was shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. We know that where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation (Small Catechism).
11. This gospel is never a demand. The gospel doesn’t require anything from us. The gospel is pure gift and promise. For us who are conceived and distressed by our sins, Jesus has brought us the gospel. While the law is written up on our hearts, the gospel comes to us from outside ourselves as a pure gift of God who speaks on our behalf in the face of all our sins of commission and our failures with respect to our neighbors, which accuse us (Bayer 11). He speaks through the Holy Spirit in our place; He speaks were words fail us (Bayer 11). He also speaks for us against the accusation which comes through the law; He speaks as an advocate in our favor (Bayer 11). So Christ speaks to us today in whatever sin we find ourselves. The gospel brings forgiveness and a new life. Amen.
12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, your name is worthy to be praised; daily bless us with the grace and mercy of your gospel, so that we no longer avoid you as fugitives but receive you as our Friend. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.
Bayer, Oswald. „With Luther in the Present“ Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring 2007). Copyright © 2007 Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.
Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 1. Jaroslav Pelikan, Ed. Copyright © 1958 Concordia Publishing House.
