Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (12 Aug. 2018)

Fight Fair?

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD."  And again, she bore his brother Abel.  Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.  In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.  The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it."  Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.  Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"  And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.  And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.  When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth."  Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.  Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."  Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.  Genesis 4:1-15

"Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.  Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.  I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.  For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.  "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.  Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."  But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?  For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.  If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.  "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.  You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son.  These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.  "Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!  The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"  Psalms 50:7-23

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:1-10

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.  1 Corinthians 15:1-10

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."  Luke 18:9-14

People seem to like conflict.  We prefer to escalate things, standing our ground and digging our heels in as we prove not how right we are, but how wrong "they" are.  We compare ourselves to each other.  The goal is confirming how exceptional we are, not how flawed our own life may be.  And when someone is "better" than us, we seek to "cut them down to size."

The first recorded sibling rivalry started that way.  Abel's sacrifice was acceptable to God, since it was done as He had instructed.  Cain's "home made" worship style, though, was rejected.  But Cain didn't get mad at God, or chastise himself for not doing things correctly.  He saw Abel's acceptance God saying "Yep, your brother is better than you.  I don't love you."  You can practically hear Satan whispering in his ear "All that stands in your way is that little twerp.  After all, you're the first-born.  You're the promised one who will make things right.  You can't let him ruin all your hard work."

Like Cain, the hypothetical Pharisee in Jesus's parable thinks himself above those considered "sinners" in his self-justifying eyes.  He compares himself with all sorts of very specific "evil doers."  He singles out those who break the Sixth and Seventh commandments, but completely ignores how he breaks the Eighth commandment right there.  And the Fifth commandment, according to Christ's definition of it.  And the Third commandment for using worship as a venue to proclaim his own self-earned righteousness.  And the Second commandment for misusing God's name in a self-serving prayer.  And the First for considering himself, essentially, perfect without God's aid, making himself and his self-righteousness his true god.

God has never been in the business of people working their way to salvation, or comparing themselves to their "sinner" neighbor.  Rather, if there is anyone to compare yourself to, you are to be compared to Christ.  That is how God saves; by means of a salvation He established.  He draws near to us in a worship that He established for us.  He counts us righteous and sanctifies us through sacraments He designed.

We have no reason to quarrel with our neighbor, most especially to compare ourselves to them in hopes of proving ourselves "less bad."  We are not called to look down on others, as if we are "holier" somehow.  The tax collector's prayer is our prayer: "God have mercy on me, a sinner."