1.Sin of Cain, fratricide
Last week we read in Genesis 3 the story about Adam and Eve who were cast away from Eden. When Adam was given Eve by God, he cherished her so much. ; - “Now, this is someone whose bones came from my bones, whose body came from my body.¡É (Genesis 2:23)
Nonetheless, being blamed by God for violating the prohibition, Adam altered the stance toward Eve abruptly. He intended to put responsibility on her. The episode point out the human nature that we would betray the most loved partner if necessary for our own sake. They were thrown out from Eden by God as the punishment for that nature. However God dressed them ahead with clothes made from animal skins as their protection. We learned that God is so merciful and still willing to take care of humans that way.

Today we read Genesis 4 which tells us how Adam and Eve lived afterward outside Eden. They had two boys, Cain and Abel. However Cain, the elder, killed his younger brother Abel. Thus the family relationship collapsed due to Cain¡Çs sinful conduct. Indeed, splits take place easily between parents and children, or among brothers.

The tragedy began this way. ; - Abel took care of flocks, and Cain became a farmer. Later, Cain brought some food from the ground as a gift to God. Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and felt rejected.(Genesis 4:2-5)

The scripture doesn¡Çt tell why the Lord accepted Abel¡Çs gift alone. Hebrews 11:4 might give an explanation; - It was by faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. God said he was pleased with the gifts Abel offered and called Abel a good man because of his faith. Abel died, but through his faith he is still speaking.

The writer of Hebrew* might think that God praised Abel¡Çs faith because of ¡Èthe best parts,¡É which was much better than simple ¡Èfood from the ground.¡É However, that interpretation seems beside the point because the main theme of Genesis 4 is Cain¡Çs sin, not the faithfulness of Abel.

Genesis 4 teaches before all that humans won¡Çt be able to understand God¡Çs appreciation. In other words, God¡Çs will goes beyond the reasoning of human beings. Therefore we have to accept humbly whatever God does. We must not try to analyze or explain God¡Çs acts in logical and rational ways. It should be meaningless to say that God rejected Cain¡Çs gift because Cain was not faithful enough. We have no need to justify God¡Çs choice in accordant with human sense of fairness.

Instead, we must face the fact that unfairness and absurdity in human sense exist always in this real world. For example, some might be born in a rich family and some were not. And children of the rich can receive high education whereas some others cannot. Or some might be robust and some are fragile by nature. Physical conditions often determine our condition of living. Those inborn factors cannot be explained throughly by human knowledge. Then, how must we deal with such ¡Æunfairness¡Ç ? Do we take aggressive behaviors toward very lucky persons? Do we give up a better life without doing any efforts? Or do we complain directly to God? The contents of Genesis 4 raise those questions to us. If we simply understand that Abel was the faithful and Cain the unfaithful, we will miss the important theme. We might lose the interest in the story as too simple. So we must read very carefully the following part.

At first the reaction of Cain, ; - Cain became very angry and felt rejected (Genesis 4:5) He thought that God was unfair to him and he avoided the face of God. So ; - The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you look so unhappy?(Genesis 4:6)

God might be expecting Cain¡Çs answer. Jeremiah and David, or other persons of great faith in the Bible expressed their anger sincerely to God. They said to God directly, “Lord, why have you brought this trouble on your people?¡É In contrast to them, Cain kept silence. Instead, he directed his anger to Abel, his brother . ; - Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out into the field.” While they were out in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

After breaking the prohibition of God, the parents of Cain Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves from God¡Çs eyes. So ; - the Lord God called to the man and said, “Where are you?"(Genesis 3:8 )

Now, ; - the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” (Genesis 4:9) The question of God links to another one, ¡ÈOf whom do you take care as your neighbor?¡É

God compels us to confess our wrongdoings. We must admit our responsibility for misconducts, then we would be forgiven and saved. The Bible teaches the very lesson unceasingly as the core of Good news. Nevertheless, to God¡Çs question, ; - Cain answered, “I don’t know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?¡É Then the Lord said, ¡ÈWhat have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.¡É(Genesis 4:9-10)

The blood shed on the ground cried to accuse Cain. Resentment of Cain turned into anger which resulted in the fratricide. Cain gat angry because he felt rejected. Almost all of us should experience the same feeling as Cain¡Çs. And as long as we keep that feeling inside us, it makes us aggressive, even till to attempt killing. Any humans are embedded with that seed of sin. In that sense, we are descendants of Cain.

* Authorship of Hebrew http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Hebrews

2. God won¡Çt abandon sinners
The blood shed caused by Cain¡Çs crime made the ground sterile. And the poor earth brought famines which put human life in danger as God sentenced to Cain, ; - ¡ÈAnd now you will be cursed in your work with the ground, the same ground where your brother’s blood fell and where your hands killed him. You will work the ground, but it will not grow good crops for you anymore, and you will wander around on the earth.” (Genesis 4:11-16)

Humans¡Ç sins afflict the ground. In ancient world, unstable weather resulted in lack of food and peoples had to move out from unproductive lands. They should thought that their sin turned into the curse on the ground. The modern world also experiences similar cases, for example, the land of Ukraine ionized during Chernobyl disaster*1. The fields there once became completely sterile. Recently, incidents of nuclear plants in Hukusima*2 caused radioactive contamination in the surrounding regions which are now under the risk of becoming real ruin. We don¡Çt know yet the precise degree of the damage. ¡ÈCurse on the ground,¡É or ¡ÈAffliction of the earth¡É due to humans¡Ç sin is still a current issue.

Hearing the sentence of God, Cain knew at last the severity of his act. Cain was filled with fear and said to the Lord,; - “This punishment is more than I can stand!14 Today you have forced me to stop working the ground, and now I must hide from you. I must wander around on the earth, and anyone who meets me can kill me."(Genesis 4:14-15)

Just when he faced the menace of being killed, he understood Abel¡Çs fear and suffering. Therefor Cain prayed God for help. The mercy God heard the voice of such a sinner. And, ; - The Lord said to Cain, “No! If anyone kills you, I will punish that person seven times more.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain warning anyone who met him not to kill him.(Genesis 4:16)

In that way, God promised Cain the protection. Thus God allowed the fratricide to survive. Nonetheless humans invented afterwards ¡ÈSentence to death¡É to criminals. We must remember that homicide for any reason is against God¡Çs will.
Genesis gave further informations about Cain¡Çs family. ; - So Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. J. Steinbeck* wrote a novel based on the mark of Cain, ¡È East of Eden.¡É That title alludes to the land of Nod. The theme of the work is inner conflict, or love and hatred inside a family:
— The father of the family is Adam. He had run a firm successfully but failed to launch a new enterprise. As a result, he lost all the wealth. His wife Cathy left him and became a prostitute, then an owner of a brothel. Adam¡Çs eldest son Arron was a serious man and his girl friend was of a good family. Adam had nothing to worry about Arron. In contrast, Caleb, the second son, was difficult to deal with. He was lonely in the family. He thought that the father Arron alone. Caleb felt rejected by Adam and wished to take revenge on Arron, not on Adam himself. Caleb¡Çs offensive behaviors hurt Arron profoundly. That inner would pushed Arron go to the war, in which he would die. —

Psychological complications triggered death of a family member. The theme of the novel was taken from the tragedy of Cain and Abel. In Genesis 3, Adam and Even broke the prohibition and ate the fruits of knowledge. Intellectual capability sometimes gives humans the desire of ruling power, which might then generate hatred and conflict even inside the family. The cases are found everywhere, in Japanese households too. At the beginning, God blessed human beings and said, ; ¡ÈHave many children and grow in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1;28)

But despite God¡Çs blessing, the relationships inside certain families sometimes turn sad because of sin. We are all sinners, or descendants of Cain. We live in ¡ÆEast of Eden,¡Ç too. But God gave us a mark as protection. Then, more exactly, what or how is that mark ? That is the subject of today¡Çs lecture.

*1 Chernobyl disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
*2 Fukushima nuclear accidents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents
*3 J. Steinbeck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Steinbeck

3. The Cross as the mark on Cain
Today¡Çs invocation verses are Matthew 18:21-22 ; - Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ¡ÈLord, when my fellow believer sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? Should I forgive him as many as seven times?¡É Jesus answered, ¡ÈI tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven.¡É

Jewish teaching in the era recommended the people to forgive their offenders three times. However Peter asked if he should do so seven times. Peter might intended to please Jesus by showing himself more tolerant than others. But Jesus told him to forgive others seventy times seven. ¡ÆSeventy times seven¡Ç is similar to ¡Æunlimitedly.¡Ç Jesus¡Ç teaching means that we must forgive our offenders every single time. Because forgiveness of God to us is limitless. Without forgiving our offenders, we couldn¡Çt be forgiven by God. Hatred of brothers is as sinful as killing them. We read that Cain killed his brother Abel because of anger. Feeling unfairly treated by God, Cain gat furious. And almost all of us know such a strong and aggressive feeling. The fact suggests that we are eventually sinners like Cain. Nonetheless, sinful Cain was allowed by God to live, so are we. The passage teaches us that human relationship should collapse without forgiveness.

God cast Cain away but as the protection he put a mark on Cain. Cain and his wife gave birth to Enoch in Nod, their new living place. Further, Genesis tells what happened to the descendants of Cain from chapter 4 verse 17. After several generations, ; - Lamech (one of them) said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice! You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say. I killed a man for wounding me, a young man for hitting me. If Cain’s killer is punished seven times, then Lamech’s killer will be punished seventy-seven times.¡É(Genesis 4:23-24)

To protect Cain, God declared that who would kill Cain must be punished seven times. But Lamech dared to say that his killer would be punished seventy-seven times. His words seem rather aiming at showing his own power than preventing aggressions. Whereas Cain must live with guilty conscience, Lamech won¡Çt have any scruple to revenge. Those who don¡Çt know forgiveness of God are inevitably lonely and anxious. And those feelings make them hostile and aggressive. They try to protect themselves with their own power, as Lamech did. That tendency is inherited by humans of this modern world.

Adam and Eve lost the second son and the eldest one was cast away. But the Lord gave them a new boy, Seth. And Genesis tells, ; -At that time people began to pray to the Lord.(Genesis 4:26)

The writing reveals that a new group of humans were born to admit their weakness and pray God. Their prayer must be that they could forgive seventy-seven times instead of revenging seventy-seven times. We can call the flock ¡ÈGod-centered persons.¡É All human history has two types of streams. One is of Cain¡Çs successors and the other is of Seth¡Çs.

The former think that they have capability of doing anything with their human power. The latter recognize their powerlessness and rely on God¡Çs mercy to live. Christians must be members of Seth¡Çs branch family.

We read the Bible to know our real nature, the sinner. Originally, we were born as Cain¡Çs successors. Nonetheless, we began to make efforts to forgive our offenders seventy-seven times, regardless of vindictive environments. We can make it possible only by looking up the Cross of Jesus. Paul said, ; - God gave you the honor not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for him, both of which bring glory to Christ. (Philippians 1:29)

Even Cain, a fratricide was forgiven. And the victim, Abel, was given a new life in Seth. When we acknowledge God¡Çs love, we see ourselves under his forgiveness. Looking up to the Cross, we, descendants of Cain, will be changed into those ¡È Who call for God¡Çs name.¡É