This question was first asked of God (Gen 4:9) by Cain in response to God’s question “Where is your brother, Abel?’ Cain, who had just killed his brother became the first to lie to God when he answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper.”
I find it interesting that according to Scripture man’s first violent act was against a brother and was immediately followed by deception and denial.
The question begs a response. God’s response was to banish Cain to a life of wandering. What should be our response as Christians? Jesus’ answer is crystal clear: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 15:12) Jesus’ love is unconditional, it is healing and forgiving, it hopes and endures.
Who then is the brother whom we are to love? Again we find the answer in Jesus who told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) in response to the question “who is my neighbor?” In short, your neighbor, your brother, your sister is the one who is in need, not merely your friend or relative. Jesus’ parable is filled with those who passed by the victim of the robbers, righteous people, a priest and a Levite, fellow countrymen. Who knows why? It was the stranger, a foreigner, loathed by the Jews, who saw him as a brother and cared for him.
Today our phrase is not “am I my brother’s keeper?,” but “It’s no concern of mine, it is not my responsibility,” as we choose not to see the brother or sister in need. “There are places to take care of them. Let them go to the shelter.” Or maybe they’re just a bum or ever worse, an illegal immigrant…. “Am I my brother’s keeper?
That brings to mind another question found in Scripture: “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?” And the answer to that questions is: “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.”(Mathew 25:44-45)
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