Siblings

"Jesus said, “I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing.” Luke 10:18-20 MSG


In the bible there are two interesting stories that is worth mentioning together. First, is the story of two sisters -- Mary and Martha, and you can read that in Luke 10:38-42. The second, is the story of two brothers (the first siblings) -- Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:3-5.

If you are like me, you probably have a few questions regarding these two stories. If you unfamiliar with or have forgotten their stories, you can read those verses first;

Mary and Martha

Cain and Abel

To me, it was hard to see why Martha was rebuked by Jesus when she worked so hard in the background.

And worse, why was Cain's offering not acceptable to the Lord.

The answer is given in the verse above, a paraphrase from the Message Version of Luke's gospel account which essentially is saying "we should not rejoice in what we can do for the Lord but rather on what He did and can do for us."

Martha was merely being a workaholic as she busied herself making preparations for and in behalf of the Lord, while she was missing out on what was truly more important -- the Lord Himself.

Imagine, He was there in the flesh in their home and all she could think of doing was doing something and everything for Him.

You see, for me, I liken this to some believers coming to a worship service and during that part of the service which we call "praise and worship" -- that part where we focus all our attention to Him, and we sometimes sing our hearts out to Him, but they would rather do everything else except what is most important at that very moment -- savoring the intimacy of when the Spirit of Jesus is coming down, inhabiting our praises and making His presence felt.

Yes, if we haven't yet, we should try it sometimes -- be a Mary, instead of a Martha during those special moments. Besides, we can be a Martha, any other time.

Now regarding Cain, this one is a little harder to understand -- especially because on the surface, each one of them offered something from what they have available; Cain being a farmer and Abel being a shepherd.

But simplistically, if you reread that passage, Abel's offering was the choicest cuts and from the firstborn of his flock. Cain's offering could have been just something taken out of his garden, because there was no mention about it being special. (Of course, his harvest is something he would have worked hard on and may quite be proud of. But remember this could be worse because the Lord was not looking for that something that you could do for Him, but rather He wanted us to rejoice on what has done for us.)

These things are little clues as to why one of the brother's offering was accepted and the other brother's wasn't.

Blood

But the "meatier" reason for this, is that Abel's offering entailed a shedding of blood which was a foreshadowing of all other acceptable offerings in Hebrew Scriptures as well as that one and final offering of the New Covenant, with the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ. What is even more amazing is that every culture all over the world has blood sacrifices and some sort of blood compacts or agreements sealed with blood.

We can also add the fact that leaves and fruits do make a great snack or salad and the fat of the best cuts of meat are meant to be burnt up and reserved for the Lord. Science or healthwise, these are great ideas.