Our Brother's Keeper; Reprint from Jan 29, 2000

One of the early failures of the human race, following Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden and Cain's cold-blooded murder, jealousy and anger at God, was Cain's failure to be his brother's keeper.

God's question, "Where is Abel your brother?" was not simply about Abel's physical location (Genesis 4:9). God is all-knowing and knew that Abel was murdered. Rather the question was to establish a sense of accountability in Cain. Cain's retort "Am I my brother's keeper?" indicates that he intuitively knew that that was what God expected of him; that he be responsible for his brother.

This may be a new century and a new millennium, but in some ways we have not progressed far beyond the first generation from Adam.

The crises of our times - whether domestic violence, depraved acts of spite and hate or criminal acts by the very young, can all be connected to someone's failure to act as his brother's keeper, either on the victim's side or the perpetrator's side. This is not to downplay individual responsibility; Wrongdoers are responsible for their actions. Though family and community failures cannot bear the brunt of the blame, our nation's ills certainly are compounded when we fail to be our brother's keeper.

Being our brother's keeper demands that we step outside the realm of our own concerns and reach out to others without invitation. It also requires that we put aside our own fears of being rejected or of misjudging a situation; this is always a risk.

Sometimes, the need is obvious as with an alcoholic, a despondent friend or an unproductive employee. But often, those who silently suffer or are too weak to help themselves are most in need of a brother to look out for them.

Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 illustrates the characteristics of a brother. A Jew was attacked by robbers and left to die at the side of the road. Two Jews passed by without helping; one a priest who crossed away to the other side of the road. The other, a Levite, took a closer look, but did nothing. It was a Samaritan, someone a Jew would not associate with under ordinary circumstances, who stopped and helped.

This Samaritan ignored the external differences of race, ethnicity, culture, and color. He saw someone in need and gave of his resources and time. This is the pattern we must follow. Particularly in our diverse society, it is not enough to care for those of our group, whatever that group may be.

Our failure to look out for our brother is rebellion against God and what he expects of us as humans. God created us to engage in relationships. He created Adam to relate to him and created Eve to be a partner and companion to Adam. The quality of our lives is a function of the quality of our relationships. Successful relationships are built on love and caring. When we fail to develop relationships and insist on living within our personal cocoon, we are acting contrary to the Creator's intent.

As times change, our internal structures are still paramount with God. He will still ask of us "Where is your brother?" If we shrug our shoulders and turn our backs, we will be following in the footsteps of Cain who was forever marked by God for his selfishness, rebellion and recalcitrance.

Instead, we must determine that we will give God no cause to ask the question. We must demonstrate caring and concern for those with whom we come into contact, whether blood brothers or not. Someone's life may depend on our willingness to help.