BLeach: God's First Two Questions

The history of the world begins with two important questions by God. God's first question was posed to Adam after his sin broke creation. Where are you (Genesis 3.9)? God asked the second question of Cain after he killed his younger brother Abel. Where is your brother (Genesis 4.9)?

I think those two questions frame the two sides of an important tension between individual responsibility (where are you) and community responsibility (where is your brother).

God's first question was timely because in Genesis 3 everyone was playing the blame game. My wife made me eat the fruit! The serpent made me eat the fruit! I'm sure Satan would have joined in as well if there had been anyone left to blame. But God held Adam accountable for his own choice.

God's second question was just as important because in Genesis 4 Cain turned on his own brother. His response to God's question reveals an attitude that characterizes too many relationships in our individualistic culture. Am I my brother's keeper? Translation: How is that my concern?

I think both questions are important.

Some people argue only for individual responsibility. They rely on self-exalting statements like this:

I'm not responsible for you. You're responsible for yourself.
I worked for what I have.
I pulled myself up by my bootstraps.

Other people argue only for community responsibility. They're good at playing the victim and blaming other people for the consequences of their own choices.

All of us have to acknowledge personal responsibility. I am responsible for my own choices. But at the same time, I long to be a part of a community that accepts responsibility for one another. What if we accepted responsibility for the poor in our city? What if we accepted responsibility for the unsaved in our circles of friendship? Most of all, what if we accepted responsibility for our brothers and sisters in our household of faith.

Am I my brother's keeper?

Absolutely.

At least I think that would have been Jesus' answer. Isn't that the ironic thing about the cross? I deserved to die. He was innocent. Yet Jesus assumed responsibility for the consequences of my choices. And maybe His example gives us some insight into the balance of this tension.

I can't pass off responsibility for my own choices. But what I can do is accept responsibility for yours.

I know that sounds like a dangerous way to live. But not if we did it together:)