Offering the Best

Reflecting on the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost: One Day after Sunday (Year C)

Scripture (semicontinuous)

Psalter: Psalm 11

Old Testament: Isaiah 2:1-4

Epistle: Hebrews 11:1-7

Scripture (complementary)

Psalter: Psalm 89:1-18

Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 33:1-17

Epistle: Hebrews 11:1-7

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Prayer

God of justice, your word is light and truth. Let your face shine on us to restore us, that we may walk in your way, seeking justice and doing good. Amen.

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Reflection

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks (Hebrews 11:4).

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, 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 countenance fell (Genesis 4:1-5).

It’s a question that has perplexed biblical interpreters for centuries. Why was Cain’s offering to God not acceptable? Genesis does not tell us, and Hebrews does not specify. The writer only says that Abel’s offering was “a more acceptable sacrifice.” Some have suggested it was because Cain offered fruit and not an animal, but that is highly unlikely. Cain was a farmer, Able a shepherd. Cain offered the harvest of his labor. That is what he had. God no more expected Cain to offer a lamb, then he required a plant offering from Able.

Others have suggested that it was Cain’s attitude that was unacceptable. Perhaps Cain gave his produce to God grudgingly instead of in an attitude of thanksgiving. It was after all, God who provided all that was necessary for humans to labor in order to survive and even flourish. Perhaps Cain’s attitude was reflected in the old agnostic farmer who being pressured to offer grace at a family gathering said, “Lord we thank you for this food, though I’m the one who tilled the soil, and planted the seed in the ground, and nurtured it, and then harvested it. We give you thanks, even though I did all the work.”

While we cannot know for sure why God found Cain’s offering unacceptable, I think the problem being one of attitude is probably correct. In Genesis we are told that God had no regard for Cain’s offering. Perhaps, it was because Cain offered it with little regard for God; that is, he failed to offer the best of his crop. The Old Testament sacrificial law is clear: the best is to be offered to God. Lambs that are “blemished” (to use an old King James term) or defective in some way (e.g. a broken leg or a malformed ear) are not be offered. It is the best of the flock that must be reserved for an offering to God. Could it possibly be that in his lack of regard for the offering he needed to make, Cain kept the best fruit for himself and gave to God bruised and malformed fruit? In such an offering Cain revealed his attitude toward God—an attitude of little regard—and God responds with little regard of his own.

God’s has given us the best of creation. We may have to work the land and raise the flock to be fruitful, but without using what God has already provided, life would not be possible. In Jesus Christ, we see definitive proof that God’s always gives God’s best to us. The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans, “God who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? (8:32). God spared no expense in creation, and spares no expense in offering new creation in Jesus Christ. God doesn’t just regard us. God loves us beyond description. How can we in response have little regard for what we must return to God?

In this day and in every day, let us strive to give God our best.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, our God and Father invites us to hold the needs of our sisters and brothers as dear to us as our own needs. May we love our neighbors as ourselves, as we offer our thanksgivings and our petitions on behalf of the church and the world; through your holy and life-giving name. Amen.

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