a better word

On the occasion of having to preach at a funeral for a man who was the victim of a stabbing, I found myself pondering again the first murder in the Bible, the story of the brothers Cain and Abel (Gen. 4).

That these were indeed “brothers” is not something the text will allow us to forget.

After birthing Cain, Eve “bore his brother Abel” (v. 2).

After having his offering disregarded by God, “Cain said to his brother Abel . . . (v. 8a).

“And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him” (v. 8b).

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ (v. 9a)

“He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ (v. 9b)

“And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand” (vv. 10-11).

By emphasizing their familial connection, indeed their relationship of blood, the text heightens for the reader the horror of Cain’s murder of Abel. Perhaps a person might conceive of taking the life of a stranger; a brother does one scarcely conceive to kill.

Such a taking of life before God, the giver of life, is an offense of the first magnitude—an offense for which the blood that was shed “cries out to God from the ground” (v. 10).

What was the blood of Abel, the blood that Cain shed, saying?

From the surroundings of the story, it seems that the blood of Abel was crying, “Vengeance!” Indeed, it is vengeance that Cain fears when confronted for his offense. It is likewise vengeance—of a “sevenfold” variety—that God threatens for the punishment of any who would kill Cain in retribution for his brother—an ironic godly prohibition against vengeance and a provision for Cain. Moreover, it is again vengeance—this time of the “seventy-sevenfold” variety—which Lamech, Cain’s fifth-generation descendant, boasts, taking advantage of God’s mercy for Cain, will be his vindication for the murder of a “young man” (4:23-24). Shall we sin in order that grace may abound indeed! (see Rom 6:1)

Thus, as sure in the story as God’s grace for the offender is God’s justice for the victim; vengeance may be foregone for Cain, but the blood of Abel is in the mind and in the ears of God.

In the immediate context, the redemption God prepares for Abel comes in the form of Seth, another son for the bereaved mother Eve: “God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him” (v. 25).

In the broader biblical, canonical context, the redemption of Abel and Cain—indeed for every victim and offender throughout time—comes in the form of Christ, the one whose “blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:24). For the blood of Jesus, like Abel’s, also had a voice crying to God—not vengeance but “Father, forgive them" (Lk 23:34).

-Joe

trust that this is true

At our recent Mennonite mission worker retreat, our input person, Jack Suderman, led us in eight sessions of "refreshing" our understandings of Christian mission. Among many priceless nuggets of wisdom and stories, he reminded us of Jesus' "first words" in the gospel of Mark. When Jesus first appeared on the scene, "proclaiming the gospel", he said nothing more, nothing less than "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mk. 1:14-15). In other words, Jack contended, though the gospel may mean many things to many people, according to Jesus its entire meaning can be broken down to two basic ideas/realities: the time is now (has been fulfilled) and God's kingdom is here (has come near, is at hand). Everything else about the gospel is an elaboration of "the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand."

In response to his gospel, Jesus prescribed repentance and faith in, again, the "good news" ("gospel"). Or, as Jack put it, we are called to "trust" that this proclamation of the good news "is true." We are to trust that the time is indeed, truly, fulfilled and that God is present, is ruling, is King over the world in which we live.

As I pondered trusting the truth of the good news within the theme of Christian mission, an outline for a spirituality of mission (or a missionary spirituality) dawned on me. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father, or in Jesus God sent Godself to the creation, so, through the gift of his Holy Spirit, we too are sent. The mission of God has been extended to us, that is, to anyone and everyone who comes in Jesus' name. If we are thus, in some way, sent as Jesus was sent, then Jesus' mission reflects on our mission and our mission reflects on his. This means that, for Jesus, God in human form, his coming to the earth, his arrival, his engagement with the creation, was as sudden or as in-breaking as ours is. He also had to arrive in a setting that was, in the sense that he was not an original member of it, not his own. Being thus foreign to him, as the flesh is to the Spirit, the creation was for Jesus a field which he had to observe, explore, experience in order to know. The created world was for Jesus a field in which he saw--and proclaimed--the presence and activity of God: "the kingdom of God is at hand". Jesus came to where he came, to whom he came, proclaiming upon his arrival--and therefore, even before he got there--that God was present, ruling, reigning, working.

Indeed, when Jesus taught the nature or character of the "kingdom of heaven", he did not preach himself but identified the presence of God through the creation and its interactions: a woman kneading yeast through dough, a sower scattering seed upon different kinds of soil, a merchant in search of fine pearls, and on and on (Mt 13). All of these were things present before he got there, but they were not things seen because people had neither "eyes to see nor ears to hear". Thus God ordained an outsider to alert insiders to "God with us", God among them. And Jesus proclaimed to them, among them, within them, that "the kingdom of God is at hand". Such a proclamation is at once both a radical affirmation and critique--a judgment--of the creation, wherever it may be. It is an affirmation, for it proclaims, consistent with God's initial act of creation, that the flesh is a worthy carrier of God's Spirit; it is a critique because the presence of anything found not of God cannot reside in that in which God was pleased to dwell. First and foremost, however, simply, "the kingdom of God is at hand."

"The kingdom of God is at hand". Jesus "trusted that this was true." Jesus trusted that God's presence, wisdom was among the creation to which he came. That is the cornerstone of a missionary spirituality that affirms, challenges, transforms, loves.

-Joe