My Day to Watch Him

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

We’ve heard the story dozens of times, each time recoiling at Cain’s hardhearted, self-justifying reply when asked by God, “Where is Abel your brother?”

Cain knew exactly where Abel lay lifeless, and he knew why. And the best defense he could muster was, “Is he my responsibility? Is it my day to watch him? He’s his own person; he’s got to watch out for himself.”

That attitude didn’t even get a response from God. God skipped right to the heart of the matter, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground…” (Gen. 4:10 Amp).

Aren’t we tempted to offer the same irrelevant excuse to God (on a more spiritual level, of course)? “Am I my brother’s keeper? Surely You can’t mean that I must refrain from doing what I feel free to do, just because it confuses and harms him? Is it up to me to shore up his shaky faith? Must I always play by his over-sensitive conscience? Does he get to set the parameters of my conduct? “

It’s really about self-indulgence, I think, most of the time. We say it’s about maintaining Christian freedom and resisting legalism, but isn’t it usually annoyance at being denied our pleasures? Isn’t it more like, “I give up enough for you, Lord… must I also give this up just for a fellow human being?”

“Whatever you do for one of the least, you do for Me.” So maybe if we recognized our “weaker” brother (and who of us is not the weaker brother in some area?) as Christ Himself, we would find it easier to say,

“My brother [or sister] is my responsibility. Today is my day to watch him. He’s part of my very own Body, the Body of Christ. And if this will offend him, it will offend Christ.

“I am my brother’s keeper. “