Spiritual Hiccups - That's Gonna Leave a Mark

Today's reading from Genesis is another of those texts that makes little sense if heard from a literal bent.  In the famous story of Cain killing Abel, things in God's creation seem to be going from bad to worse.  First their parents get kicked out of the garden, now fratricide among the children.  It's a story that's the subject of frequent misinterpretation.  Cain's question, "Am I my brother's keeper," is often inverted to say the we are called to be our brother's (and sister's) keeper, which may be true but has little to do with this story.  Cain's question is a rhetorical one with a presumed answer of "No."  He is seeking to lay the blame on God here.

But the mark of Cain comes in for even worse misunderstanding.  (It's worth noting that the issue that leads to the mark seems preposterous at face value.  Cain is worried that, as a wandering fugitive, he will be killed, but this seems a foolish concern.  To date there are only four humans in all of God's creation, and one of those now lies dead.)  The mark of Cain is often understood to be a mark of shame, a visible sign of the curse God places on him.  Yet God says quite clearly that the mark is to protect Cain from reprisals by those he may meet.

The rather remarkable thing about all this is that despite the heinous murder Cain has committed, despite God's insistence that Cain will suffer for his guilt, Yahweh is still concerned for Cain, and takes steps to insure his safety.  Despite Cain's role in Creation's continuing downward spiral, God is still committed to him. 

People sometimes speak of the "wrathful God of the Old Testament," and there are verses that might seem to support such a view.  But there are likewise many passages where God's nature as both a God of judgment and a God of graces, mercy, and steadfast love is clearly visible.  Religious folks often want to resolve this apparent paradox and opt for either a God of judgment or a God of grace.  We struggle to hold to two in tension.  Indeed, in the biblical stories, God at times seems to struggle with this tension.  (Check out Hosea 11:1-11 for one such example.)

This tension is within today's reading, and I see the gospel enacted in the story of Cain and Abel.  We humans seek to go our own way, to make our own way.  We grasp for what we want, often with no concern about who gets hurt by our grasping.  In so doing we reap a world filled with animosities and hostilities.  There are consequences to us, and to all of Creation for our arrogance and hubris.  But God will not abandon us to our own devices.  God still reaches out to claim us.  As Christians we say that we are sealed, marked in our baptisms.  People don't usually associate the sign and seal of baptism with the mark of Cain... But I wonder.

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