On Murder and Money

GENESIS 4:1-24

Rev. Kenneth C. Whitt                     September 30, 2007

"Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." 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?" The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 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." But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD'S presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah. Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

I hope I talk about stewardship more than once a year. Jesus talked about money all the time, seeing greed and the abuse of wealth as the single most pervasive sin to plague human beings. But talk about stewardship and talk about money are not exactly the same thing. Everything belongs to God and God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. You can be a great steward even if you have next to nothing. You can be a terrible steward even if all the kingdoms of the world are yours. Whenever we seriously consider the ways we give back to God of our time, talent and treasure, even of our bodies and our hearts and spirits, the pondering itself is as a prayer. We are saying to God something like:

Great Giver of every good and perfect gift. I belong to you.
Loosen my grip. Convict me with your word. Make all things new in my life.
I come before you ready to be changed, ready for a renewal of purpose, ready for a discovery of unused talents, ready to give my very best.
Expose every selfish way. Heal my diseased giving. Strengthen my desire to give as has been given to me.
And never let me forget exactly what I have been given in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

When we as a congregation say to God, "Lord, we desire a renewal of our stewardship, new confidence that you are giving to us all the resources to accomplish every task you give us to do.” That is a prayer. God answers prayer. And, after God has answered, more will be required of us than ever before. And more will be given to us than we ever imagined. That is the way economics work in the Kingdom of God. Let me tell you a story about why giving matters so much in God’s Kingdom.

A Story From Long Ago

Once upon a time, in a time before time and in a land beyond land, there was no need for an emphasis on stewardship. Everything that was God's was man's and everything that was man's was God's--except for a couple of trees and their fruits. We are going to go back to that time and land today in search of the cause of our separation from God--which is also the cause of our selfishness, insecurity, greed, short-sightedness, and other self-destructive impulses. We are going to try to understand why in giving our very best we literally save our lives from destruction.

Listen to a re-telling of the story of the murder of Abel by Cain. This story will be an interpretation of the original. Listen carefully for what the story teaches about why one gift is good and another is bad.

"It was a day like any other day. The brothers arose early, one to check on his herd, pastured quietly not too far distant, while the other continued the exhausting work of weeding his wheat field. Both were up before the sun to complete the bulk of their work before the searing heat became unbearable.

But before work could be begun, sacrifice must be performed; they had learned that lesson from their father, who seemed especially concerned to perform sacrifice to the God I AM. It was as if their father had some terrible dark sin for which he had to atone, and the family never missed the morning sacrifice. So as the sun peeped over the horizon, casting a cool light over the land, quite unlike the later blast furnace to come, Adam brought his family to the high place.

After the prayers, spoken always by the head of the family, mother Eve was the first to lay her gift on the earthen altar, a loaf of her finest bread, fresh from the brick-lined oven; her sons were not the only ones up before the sun. Then the patriarch laid a fresh pile of fig leaves on the altar, as he did every day. It was an odd gift, and the old man always smiled broadly as he moved away from the altar and caught the eye of his wife who always seemed to be suppressing a laugh. The brothers never knew what the joke was. Then came Abel, the second born, the owner of several fine flocks of goats and sheep. Proudly, he laid upon the sacred altar the succulent flank of his most prized animal. It was without doubt the very finest gift he could have given, and his parents nodded and murmured their approval. Finally, the firstborn son, Cain, who always concluded the morning ritual with his gift, moved lazily toward the altar and dropped a rather moldy looking, none too fresh shock of wheat right next to the superb meat offering of his brother.

Adam grunted his displeasure. Eve sucked in her breath in startled dismay, and Abel made a little clucking sound, a sound of disgust to the ears of Cain. He looked at each member of his family one at a time with defiance, his glance telling them in no uncertain terms that he had done precisely what he had intended to do. Ominous thunder split the leaden sky, promising rain in the season without rain.

Adam and Eve left the high place, mumbling to each other. The eyes of the brothers remained locked in nonverbal combat. They exchanged no words as the rain began to fall, but each knew what was about to happen. Silently, they moved down from the sacred hill and toward the open field that lay between Abel's flocks and Cain's gardens. The wind increased, and the rain washed down from the boiling sky, slashing the brothers with knives of water.

In the maelstrom of the deafening storm, Cain shouted something to his brother, but what was said was swallowed by the tempest. The dark act was hidden by the rain--a rain unearthly in its fury, a rain that might never stop until the whole world were destroyed. It did stop this time, but as the wind died and the rain ceased, only one brother left the field, while the other mingled his blood with the saturated earth. Cain did not look back at his deed, but set his face eastward, moving away from the flocks, the gardens and his parents. From the sky came a loud crash of thunder, heralding the passing of the storm. But to the brother-killer, it sounded rather like the beginning of judgment." (Story from, The Storyteller's Companion to the Bible, Genesis, Michael E. Williams, pp. 45-47)

This interpretative retelling of the Biblical story proceeds along lines that would be rejected by many Biblical scholars, which is fine since I often reject their ideas too. Many experts say that the Biblical story contains no answer to the question, "Why did God favor the offering of Abel and reject the offering of Cain?" One of the benefits of saying that the story does not answer this question is that the scholars can then search far and wide for answers that support preconceived ideas. If there is no answer in the story you can even make up an answer. Thus it has been suggested that a blood sacrifice is more acceptable than a grain sacrifice. But nothing in the story itself suggests that. Others teach that this is a story of the age-old antagonism between ranchers and farmers, made famous to us in the musical, Oklahoma. The experts speculate, "Ranchers must have written this story to declare that God is on their side."

There is no need for all this creative speculation. I think the text is clear and the answer is simple. All we need to do is to look at the words used to describe the offerings of Cain and Abel.

Cain's offering is described by the word "some".

Abel's offering is described by the words "fat portions of the first born".

Cain gave "some", in the sense of, "Oh, you need 'some' help, I think I have 'some' change here. I will give you 'some', what I don't need. I've got 'some' leftovers here, 'some' scraps. Cain's offering reminds me of 'some' crumbs that fell from the table into the mouth of Lazarus in the New Testament story told by Jesus.

Abel gave the very first and the very best. He sacrificed in the spirit of, "Freely I have received, freely I will give." He gave off the top, with a joyful heart. He gave what any of us would love to receive.

Now, good friends, an insight from on high enters the story. It comes straight from the mouth of God. That means it is probably important and we had best listen. God sees Cain going around in a huff and says to him:

GENESIS 4:6b-7: "...Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." The problem God describes is not a ritualistic difference between blood and grain offerings. God is describing a compulsive and consuming sin that devours Cain.

Do you see what is happening here? Cain has messed up his giving but that does not mean that in the Divine eye he is messed up. God talks directly to Cain as if He is a friend, counselor or spiritual advisor. God says, in essence, "OK, good buddy, you made a mistake. But you have another chance. You can get this offering thing right next time. But, I warn you, you do have to get it right! If you do not, sin will destroy you."

If we do not give of our best, sin will destroy us too. That's a pretty frightening idea to people adept at giving "some", "some scraps", "some leftovers." Giving "some" proceeds from a thankless heart. And a heart without thanks opens us to life destroying greed. Giving "some" proceeds from an insecure spirit, and an insecure spirit opens us to deadly sin.

God warns Cain that failure in giving makes him vulnerable to sin. "The refusal to do one's best opens one up to the assaults of a crouching tiger. And the attack is not long in coming." (Williams, p. 44)

Cain, refusing to heed God's warning, completely in the grip of sin, possessed by rage, kills his brother. God cries out in anguish, "What have you done?" Indeed, what has he done? Humanity was told, in the Garden of Eden, to be the "keeper" of the creation. Now Cain denies his responsibility to be "keeper". Instead of keeping he destroys. The voice of the blood, dam in Hebrew, of Cain's brother, ah in Hebrew, calls out from the ground, adamah in Hebrew. All human beings, adam in Hebrew, cry out to God. In this repetition of four words that sound alike...

dam--blood
ah--brother
adamah--ground
adam--human being

...there is a terrible announcement. The tragic separations that began when "adam" was cast out of the garden and the "adamah" was cursed have now been extended to "ah" and "dam". Brothers are now separated by the awful crime of fratricide. Is nothing Holy? Apparently not. For the story teller does not bring this narration to a close until we are introduced to a man by the name of Lamach who is willing to slaughter hundreds, including children, to protect his own life. "The world that God created is on a slippery slope to disaster." (Williams, p. 45)

And it all began, according to God, with the refusal of Cain to give his best.

The world is still on the slippery slope to disaster. God is still issuing the same warning given to Cain. We are being given another chance, but sin is a crouching tiger threatening to consume us. And the solution is still giving our very best--the first, instead of some--the scraps.

When we refuse to give our very best, putting God first, and instead give some, the leftovers, sin consumes us. The sin that is ready to consume us, the tiger waiting to devour us, is most often the sin of materialism or consumerism.

Consumed by materialism, we seek meaning and security by ingesting everything in sight, like a giant vacuum cleaner. And people possessed by materialism eventually need an even bigger vacuum cleaner in order to eat more and more until they are sucking up and destroying the world. What do you think? Is that a pretty good description of the American Economic Machine? Sucking up oil until there is no oil left? Sucking up labor around the world until Chinese children and young adults are nothing more than slaves?

Materialism is the dominant religion of our world. It destroys brotherhood and sisterhood as surely as murder. Materialism separates "adam", human beings, into haves and have-nots, and the haves protest that they are not the keepers of the have-nots. Materialism, elevating things above God and above people, separates "adam" (the earth-creature) from the "adamah" (the ground) of being, which is Paul Tillich’s definition of God. Brothers are divided against sisters, black against white, young against old, rich against poor. Giving our best ends the murderous separation that continues to destroy the sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve. Giving our best protects us from this sin of division because giving aligns us with the work of Jesus to make all things one. Giving our best is nurtured by the faith that God gives us God's best--even His only begotten son. Giving our best makes us part of the movement of God to redeem the fallen creation--the creation which materialism causes us to abuse instead of to keep.

Cain gave the scraps. Sin consumed him. He killed his brother. His ancestor, Lamach, multiplied the violence. If we continue to give only the scraps sin will continue to consume us and we may kill all life on this planet. The adam (earth creature) who does not recognize God as the adamah (ground) of being eventually self-destructs. Destruction goes by many names, like global warming or nuclear winter or ozone depletion or oil depletion; or just plain old and terrible war.

Because the matter is so important, scriptures give nearly endless instruction on what it means to give our best. For centuries the Christian church has held up the standard of tithing. If there is a problem with that standard it may be that 10% is too easy for Christians in America who, while being 6% of world's population consume 33% of the world's resources. For a few of us tithing should be a goal. For most of us it should be a beginning.

If it was just about money it would not matter that much what you give. Certainly sacrificial giving would be pointless. However, God tells us that giving our best is the best protection against life destroying greed. Giving our best contributes to our salvation and the salvation of the world. Giving is strong medicine. At first some fear it will be like taking castor oil. In time giving becomes like a cup of cold water to someone dying of thirst.

May we realize that this is so. Amen.