THE MARK OF CAIN
INTRODUCTION
The title of my
homily for this 6th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “The Mark of Cain.”
These powerful
stories in the Book of Genesis give us plenty of life issues to think about.
In today’s story from
Genesis 4:1-15, 25, we hear about Cain - a tiller of the soil - a farmer - who
killed his brother Abel - a shepherd.
Motive: thinking
God liked Abel better than God liked him. Cain thought God thought Abel brought
the better gift as an offering. Motive: jealousy, envy, and anger - and
probably stuff that goes way back into their history.
Here it is
Chapter 4 and the authors of Genesis have already brought up and put on the
stage the question of Good and Evil - and that God creates good, so who brings
about evil? Answer: us.
We eat forbidden
fruit. We hide from God. We blame the other. We want to be equal to God. And
here we have brother killing brother.
Cain then wanders
the earth: restless and filled with remorse. And on his being is the mark of
his mistake: the mark of Cain.
YETZER HARA
Jewish rabbis
like to point out that we all have the mark of our sins on the blackboard of
our soul. We have the chalk dust - still
there - even though we try to erase it. We have scars. We have memories. We
know our big mistakes.
Jewish rabbis
also like to point out - using this story
of Cain killing his brother Abel - that there is lurking at our doorstep - at
the flap of the tent of our mind - something called, ‘The Yetzer Hara”. That’s Hebrew
for the Inclination to Sin.
Yetzer -
inclination. Hara - sin or evil.
They also like to
point out that there is also the opposite - right there at the edge of out
being: the Yetzer Ha tov: the inclination to good.
They teach when a
boy hits 13 and a girl 12 - it’s bar or bas mitzvah time - to point out that we
have choices. Choose good; avoid evil.
We Catholics have
confirmation. Other religions and tribes - more or less have these puberty
rites. The Amish have the Rumspringa - literally “Run Springing - running around - when young people are put
out there for roughly a year - not to get into evil drug parties - that some
documentaries like to televise. They want to give their young ones the freedom
to choose Amish.
The rabbis like
to teach that every person has to move from the physical to the spiritual. We
have desires to eat and drink, but there is the inclination to be a glutton and
overdrink. They like to teach that we have sexual powers, but we need to fight
the yetzer hara to over indulge. So too speech…. So too to have fun, but we can
overdo it - and get marked down for life.
FOR LIFE
Cain carried the
sin - the mark - of his evil deed for life.
As priest I know
that people carry the sins of their youth, young adulthood, old adulthood for
life.
So the message is
obviously to choose good and have that marked on our being for life.
IN TOUCH WITH
I would think it
is important that we know about evil and good - how they lurk at the edge of
our life.
I would think it’s important to help kids choose good - and to encourage.
I would think
it’s important for us to give good example.
I would think
it’s important to help kids realize there is evil.
It's Black History Month and I would think one good movie to watch is, "42" - the story of Jackie Robinson breaking into the major leagues as the first African-American baseball player. Relevant to this sermon is a scene in Cincinnatti - where Robinson is taunted and made fun and called the "N" word. The camera puts a close up and the focus of a little white kid watching Jackie Robinson - his new found hero - till he hears his father and his father's friends calling Jackie the "N" word and then after a long pause - the kid does as well.
The evil inclination. The Yetzer Hara is always around.
I would think
kids learn that for beach week at the end of high school and during spring
break in college, there are opportunities to work on houses - like habitat for
humanity.
I would think
it’s smart to know kids need supervision - when the superego - chaperone’s are
talking - kids are plotting. I always
remember boat rides up the Hudson as a kid - altar boys - there would always be
Catholic high school seniors throwing chairs overboard - and making mischief.
CONCLUSION
Regrets and
remembering dumb and dirty tricks, hurting and killing one another, sins and
selfishness and a lot more are the marks of Cain.
Forgiveness from
our brother Jesus - who has become our
keeper - is a way to recover and we can be redeemed and walk with the mark of
forgiveness on our hands and soul.
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Painting on top: Cain and Abel, by Keith Vaughan Tate, 1946.
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Painting on top: Cain and Abel, by Keith Vaughan Tate, 1946.