“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”

How many of us remember the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Despite being a bit of a bible geek, I did not remember where it was found in the bible and did a google search to figure it out.  Much to my surprise, it wasn’t a trigger that inspired a parable by Jesus, nor was it a question asked by the Pharisees, or even a phrase that Paul had coined in one of his letters.  It was, however, in Genesis 4.

The last time I read that story was as a kid in my illustrated story bible.  ‘Cain and Abel’ is a tale of common humanity.  Jealousy of a sibling is something many people are familiar with although not many will admit it.  Even more common is making an excuse when caught red-handed.  Cain defensively and angrily tried to deflect God’s question. 

God told Cain to let go of his anger and jealousy, but Cain hung onto it, and nursed it, according to the scriptures.  As James wrote in his letter, “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s justice.”  Cain’s anger did indeed not produce God’s justice.  Cain fed his anger until it boiled over into violence.  And then he refused to take responsibility by deflecting God’s question.

We’re not murderers, as far as I know, but the question of “Am I my brother’s or sister’s keeper?”, feels central to the tension we are now seeing in many conversations.  It is a difficult ethical question to ask of ourselves.  The people who are covid deniers or anti-vaxxers are ready to accuse us of being sheeple and worse at the slightest opportunity.  They promote medications that are proscribed for livestock, as if that is safer than a vaccine developed by some of the most educated and dedicated medical experts in the world.  Their anger does not lead to justice, which at this time would be vaccinations distributed to more than just 2% of the world’s population.  Nor does it build up love and community in this country.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” is a justification for not taking care of one another, not taking responsibility for how our actions impact others.  Remember the first Star Wars movie when Han Solo delivered R2D2 and Princess Leia to the Rebel Camp after escaping Darth Vader and the Death Star?  She says to him, “It’s not over yet”, and Han says defiantly, “It is for me, sister. Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, Princess. I'm in it for the money.”

That is where a lot of people are right now.  They are in it for themselves, and no one else.  They struggle to deal with change or with being asked to do something like wear a mask or get a vaccine that doesn’t benefit them or their bank accounts.  They are coming from a place of defensiveness that says “I don’t want to do anything someone else tells me I should do” or “I don’t need to care about others getting sick”.  They are coming from a place of entitlement, or anger or shame or fear or denial.  Ultimately, they don’t want to have to change for someone else.  They fear being controlled by someone else.  And their fear of being controlled is so strong that they do irrational things.

It’s always easy to see when it’s them out there that are stuck in the question of “Am I my brother’s keeper?’  But what about us who want to follow Jesus?

Christians are not called to judge our neighbors, as tempting as that might seem.  Or as widespread as that might appear – judging those who have vaccines, those who don’t, those who are staying home, those who went to the Calgary Stampede, those who have Covid, those who don’t believe in Covid, those who sanitize their hands, those who hug everyone they meet, those who know who they will vote for, those who don’t know if it will make a difference whether they vote or not.

As Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

We are to look within, noticing the times we resort to anger or respond with greed or jealousy or pride or denial or resentment.  The times we lie, or say nasty things about people behind their backs, the times we don’t listen to someone with a different point of view.  The times we lash out or the times we fail to speak up.  Especially now, the times we need make changes and accommodations that we feel are unnecessary or unimportant.  More now than ever, change will be hard and resented and rebelled against.  Clinging to human traditions when they no longer help us connect with the holy can lead to the exact kind of Pharisee thinking Jesus was condemning.

It’s not how our church is set up, or how we feel about wearing masks in church, or being asked if we are double-vaccinated or where we sit that makes us unclean.  It is the anger and resentment, or stubborn clinging to what we think is the right way of doing things that can break down our relationship with God.

Ultimately, we are called to be more than our brother’s keeper.  We are not to enable or abandon them, but to love them.  Jesus taught that we are to love our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and love our neighbor as much as we show compassion to ourselves.  That is what is truly important.  Loving God, loving neighbor, loving self.  We can do this, and when we do, we are following the way Christ calls us to be, turning back on what makes us unclean and worshiping God in ways that make a difference in the world.  May it be so for us all.

Hard words in Hard Times

Cannibalism and military outfits!  That’s what is in our scripture lessons this morning.  Talk about hard words in hard times.  

Hard words like Jesus speaking about drinking blood was extremely offensive to the people of his day.  Leviticus 17 talks about God cutting all connections with people who drank blood, “I will set my face against them and cut them off from the people” Whether it’s animal or human, blood was seen as the spiritual essence of life so this was deeply offensive to the followers.  And yet Jesus told them that drinking blood, his blood, was the only way to connect to God.  That was such a hard teaching that it alienated many of his followers. We understand that this is a metaphor about the ritual of eating communion together.  Or is it?  Because this was not about the Last Supper, or about how to share communion, it was about who Jesus was, the Word made flesh.  

Add to this the shock of hearing Jesus talk about his being a sacrifice, willing to give up his body and blood, was also a hard word to swallow.  Sacrificing one’s own life for the sake of others is pretty high stakes at any time.  It’s almost unimaginable in this day and age.  And it would have been very distasteful back then.

We are not good at sacrifice.  We like to do things that feel right or comfortable or customary.  We like to go with the flow, fit in, feel like we belong.  We want the latest fashions, or the nicest car, or the softest furniture, the most delicious food.  We can’t imagine giving our lives away for someone else’s benefit.  Yet that is what Jesus did.  He offended people.  He shocked people.  He went against what the rest of the country thought was proper or appropriate.  He used hard words because it wasn’t about winning the popularity contest or gaining friends and influencing people.  He used hard words because he was developing a strong, resilient and visionary group of followers who would carry his ideas forward despite all the world would throw at them.  Despite how offensive the message was of a state-tortured holy man who had the power to overthrow even death itself.  Hard words that would cost him his life.  

We are living in hard times that seem to be getting more complicated, rather than less.  Afghanistan is once again in turmoil, despite many people of many nations sacrificing their blood and their lives.  Haiti is also going through another crisis.  The UN announced a code red for humanity, which seems more believable than ever given the state of the fires in BC, melting of glaciers and record-breaking heatwaves here at home.  And now we have an election to wade through where words will be used to convince us to vote.  Some parties will use emotional words to scare us, others will use logical words to convince us.  And words will be used to confuse us and mislead us.  This summer we were supposed to be free from all Covid restrictions and were told that events like the Calgary Stampede would be safe.  Now we know that rapid testing isn’t foolproof, and cases in Calgary outnumber the cases in other areas of the province.  Vaccination rates have plateaued, and words have convinced many of conspiracy theories and promoted vaccine hesitancy.

Too many words.  Too many angry opinions and confusing ideas.  Too many difficult situations.  Too many tragedies.  Too many wars.

What do we do at times like these?  That’s where Paul’s writing comes in handy.  He was writing in hard times to a congregation that was struggling to know who it was and how it would follow Jesus.  He talked about how difficult it was when the world was full of strife, dissent, conflict and confusion.  He said that it wasn’t about physical wars between nations, but wars about ideas, about values, about passions, and about loyalty to one’s beliefs: 

“For our battle ultimately is not against human forces, but against the sovereignties and powers, against the authorities, against the rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

He used a military image because it was a common image that everyone was familiar with. 

Today, he could have used football protective gear.  Think about all the padding they must wear, the helmet, the shoulder pads, the cleated running shoes! Or the masks and chest pads a catcher wears behind home plate, or the shin pads of the goalie.  All those layers of protection are what we are more familiar with.  And doesn’t it sound comforting to know that God provides us with protection from the mental, emotional and spiritual challenges we face?

I like Eugene Peterson’s version of this passage: 

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, justice, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

We use the Word of God to strengthen ourselves and our community in times of difficulty.  We are charged to do that with truth, justice, peace, and faith, and with two primary tools – scripture and prayer.  Words for tough times, words for staying strong and resilient and courageous. Now is the time for us to put on the whole uniform of God and use our words to follow the Bread of Life and the Word made flesh, who for us is the Holy One of God.