Far as the Curse is Found

Scripture: Genesis 4: 1-16

Sermon: Far as the Curse is Found

Topics: Curse, Blessing, Sin

Preached: October 10, 2004 am Woodlawn

Rev. Mike Abma

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.’ ²Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’

8 Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ ¹⁰And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! ¹¹And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’ ¹³Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear! ¹⁴Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.’¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. ¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

INTRODUCTION

Last week we looked at Genesis 3.

Last week we looked at the vertical relationship between humanity and God and how it all disintegrated with Adam and Eve’s rebellion.

Last week left us with Adam and Eve kicked out of the garden and with a curse on their heads.

That was last week. Now what?

How far will that curse be found?

How much will that curse contaminate?

These must have been some of Adam and Eve’s thoughts.

So when Eve became pregnant and gave birth to a son, she was overjoyed because this son represented a new beginning, a second chance. With the help of the Lord, everything would be all right.

But everything isn’t all right.

The boys grow up. Abel becomes a shepherd, Cain a tiller of the soil.

They each bring offerings to the Lord.

But the Lord favor’s Abel’s over Cain’s.

There are more questions raised here than answers:

* how did Cain and Abel know they were to bring offerings?

* Why did God prefer Abel’s offering to Cain’s?

* What does it mean that God looked with favor on Abel’s offering but didn’t look with favor on Cain’s? How could they tell? Are we too assume that Abel’s flocks flourished while Cain’s crops floundered?

* And why would God do such a thing, anyway? Doesn’t he realize he is stirring up trouble?

There is a mystery here. There is the mystery of life.

Why does God seem to allow one person to flourish and another to flounder?

Why did God give Mozart an astounding musical gift, but Salieri only a mediocre one?

Why do some struggle through school and others seem to sail through?

Why does one marriage disintegrate into a divorce while another deepens in devotion?

Why does one body succumb to cancer in mid-life while another pushes past 100?

God’s ways are inscrutable.

And God’s inscrutable ways will continue as he will favor one brother over another:

Isaac over Ishmael; Jacob over Esau; Joseph over his brothers; David over his brothers.

The point is, Cain and Abel seemed to be getting along fine, until God tipped his hat in Abel’s direction. Then Cain becomes angry.

That Cain is angry with God does not seem to be the problem.

The problem comes in how anger becomes an open door for sin to rush in.

God knew there was trouble brewing and warns Cain.

In the Bible’s first use of the word “sin”, God warns Cain that sin is crouching at his door. Sin had turned from a smooth-talking snake into a wild-devouring beast.

This is the picture of life after the FALL, life east of Eden.

Evil is on the loose, and we better beware.

But Cain isn’t listening. His face is already downcast. He has already turned from God. He is in a different space, a different territory. Long before Cain invites his brother to go out to the field, Cain has entered that hellish territory so far from the garden, so far from the voice and face of God. That place

where everyone is perpetually concerned about their own dignity and advancement;

where everyone has a grievance;

where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment (from C.S. Lewis, Preface to Screwtape Letters).

Cain’s anger at God and the unfairness of life attaches itself to his brother Abel.

All Cain can think of are ways to cut him down, to cut him out.

COMING CLOSE TO CAIN

We are repelled by Cain.

We are attracted to Abel.

We want to see ourselves as Abel.

It’s not my fault that God loves me more than others.

It’s not our fault that God has blessed us by making us the richest most powerful country in the world.

It’s not our fault that the rest of the world resents our success.

We want to be Abel.

But …we are Cain.

We dwell east of Eden.

We are humanity under a curse.

We live with the beast crouching at our door ready to devour us.

In high school I had a best friend. We were practically inseparable. He was Baptist, I was Reformed. We argued all the time, but never quarreled. We attended a small high school. By our senior year, we were both on every sports team. He was better at volleyball and basketball; I was better at soccer and badminton – don’t laugh, badminton was serious stuff. We both ran track – he ran the short distances, I ran the long ones.

By the time graduation rolled around, I believed we both had a sporting chance at the athletic award. In my own mind, I had convinced myself that I had edged him out for the award. But alas, come commencement, he received the award, not me.

Having a heightened sense of justice, I kept wondering, why him and not me?

At some point, I thought I had been unfairly treated.

At some point, I began to blame my best friend for winning this award.

I was even angry at him for doing so.

What is appalling is how strong these urges were even though he was my closest and dearest friend.

I know that for a time I was short and distant with him. But I was saved from doing something absolutely awful by a novel.

The novel was A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. The novel is about two high school friends, Gene and Finny. Finny was athletic, utterly likeable. Gene was his best friend. But over time, Gene began to resent living in Finny’s shadow. Then one day, without even thinking, Gene impulsively pushes Finny out of a tree. Finny breaks his leg. It ends his athletic career, and eventually ends his life. Gene can hardly believe or accept what he did – the enormity of his sin. He lives with the curse of regret.

It was a novel that woke me up to the beast that lay crouched at the door.

We may not be tempted to take someone out to a field and bludgeon them to death.

But we may be tempted to push them out of a tree or down a stairs;

We may be tempted to cut them down to size with our words,

or to cut them out of our life with our actions.

We are Cain.

We dwell east of Eden.

We are humanity under a curse.

We live with the beast crouching at our door ready to devour us.

CURSE AND BLESSING

Cain attacks his brother and kills him.

Things in creation are going from bad to worse.

And that is the steady and sad theme of Genesis 3-11.

One of Cain’s descendant’s, Lamech, will make Cain’s crime seem

small.

At the time of the flood, people are worse yet, following every evil

desire of their heart.

Even after the flood, people proudly defy God in building the Tower

of Babel.

How far is the curse found?

The sad truth is that

there is not a square inch of this creation that the curse does

not infect, and where the contagion of evil has not spread.

But God does not abandon the work of his hands.

After Abel is dead, God comes around asking questions in a sort of divine pastoral care way.

After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God called, “Where are you?”

Now he again comes to Cain asking questions, “Where is your brother?

Cain doesn’t appreciate the pastoral care, this intrusion into his life.

He lies and says, “I don’t know.” Then he adds, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

In other words, “You should know — he is your favorite, after all!”

What comes next is the most remarkable part of this sad story.

God shows he is a God of justice and a God of mercy.

God is a God of justice.

Cain must live with the consequences of his sin:

He killed, now he lives with the threat of death on his head.

He wandered into territory far from God,

now he continues wandering there.

And the soil that soaked up his brother’s blood is now unable to

produce fruit.

The curse spreads.

But God is also merciful.

God does not give up on Cain.

Cain deserves death, but God allows him to live.

God puts a mark on Cain to protect him from the cycle of vengeance and violence.

Even though Cain leaves the presence of God, God’s presence does not leave Cain.

God does not give up on Cain.

God does not give up on us, the descendants of Cain.

In time, God will send a brother into the wilderness, into the land of Nod, the land east of Eden.

God will send this brother to rescue Cain and all of us descendants of Cain.

He will send this brother, and, sadly, we will treat him the same way Cain treated Abel:

We will resent him,

Become angry with him,

Then take him outside of the gates of the city

to kill him on a cross.

The blood of our brother, Jesus, will be shed.

In the mystery of salvation, this blood will not blood continue the curse.

In the mystery of salvation, this blood will be the antidote to the curse.

The blood of our brother, Jesus, will soak into the ground

to wash this creation clean of its curse.

The blood of our brother, Jesus, will soaks into our souls

to wash our lives clean of all the sins that have crept or

leapt through the door and into our hearts;

In baptism, we will be marked by the blood of our brother, Jesus,

the mark of forgiveness and reconciliation.

So that we can be embraced by God so strongly that nothing,

absolutely nothing can separate us from his love;

And so that we can embrace each other as brother and sister,

so that Cain and Abel can embrace as brothers once again.

The only answer to Abel’s blood is Jesus’ blood.

For the blood of Jesus soaks

Into every dark corner of our heart

Into every dark corner of this creation

to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.