My Brother's Keeper?
In the Book of Genesis chapter 4 we see a story of God talking to Cain. Right before this passage Cain had killed his brother Abel and presumably buried his body (see verse 10). So after the murder, in verse 9, God comes to Cain and says, “Where is Abel your brother?” Cain then proceeds to lie to God’s face and says, “I do not know.” Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, he makes a smart aleck remark, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” I believe Cain was saying, “Is it my job to look out for Abel?” This phrase is used a lot in our culture, and I believe it is used wrongly. You see Cain knew he was busted. He knew that God knew what he had done. So Cain did what many people do, he made a snide comment to try and deflect from his guilt. Nowadays it seems Cain’s question has gone from rude comment to gospel truth. People use what Cain said to justify their actions. They use it to justify not helping the poor and needy. They use it to justify not sharing the Gospel and to justify not
