In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD
from the fruit of the soil,
while Abel, for his part,
brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.
What do we bring to the Lord as an offering? Is it the best of what we have or only the leftovers? We know that the Lord doesn't need sacrifices or offerings. The cattle of a thousand hills are already his (see Psalm 50:10).
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.”
Was Cain rebuked for his offering? Only insofar as that offering was an action that did not express care and careful discernment toward God, precisely the care that Abel's offering did represent. Cain, it seemed, did not care enough for God to him the best of what he had. The thing itself was immaterial, indifferent. But whatever it was, God wanted the best, not because he needed it, but because he deserved it. He knew that his creatures could only find happiness if they put him first.
Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.
When we try to offer God something less than he asks of us we too will find ourselves frustrated. This is true even before we look around us and see others actually giving themselves completely and, in doing so finding satisfaction. An automatic result of giving God our leftovers, our partial obedience, is that we ourselves will be unsatisfied.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
but on Cain and his offering he did not.
Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.
When we are not walking in obedience we are at high risk of becoming jealous of those who are. We don't see clearly why they seem to have found fulfillment and favor and we have not. We can't see the difference just by looking at our respective offerings. We are blinded to the good intentions that made the offerings of others acceptable. We forget the reason why our own offerings were not accepted, believing instead that it must be because God arbitrarily preferred others to ourselves. We become jealous. And jealousy is always dangerous.
Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
God gives us many opportunities to own up to sin at each step before it progresses further. Yet he will even allow us to be separated from the community if it might help us to come to understand the severity of the problem. Nevertheless, he has something more in mind than strict justice. Abel's blood cried out for justice. But the blood of Jesus cried out for better things than that of Abel (see Hebrews 12:24). Like Abel, Jesus offered the best of what he had to the Father. Indeed he offered his very self. Like Abel, those who were jealous of him put him to death. But the blood which poured out from the Sacred Heart cried out for mercy for sinners. Cain in his punishment was a sort of figure of all sinners, a wander without the true rest until the mercy of Christ would finally be revealed.
The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
If we come to Jesus with demands rather than offerings, or if our offering are merely bargaining chips, we will leave frustrated and crestfallen. The reason Jesus did not give a sign is that he himself was sign enough for those with eyes to see. As we give our hearts (and the best of our hearts) to God may we see in Jesus the sign of favor which receives them. He himself, his whole life, is the sign of mercy that pleads for us to the Father.
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