Keepers

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9)

Cain was found out; he was obliged to fumble for an impossible answer on enquiry by the LORD as to the whereabouts of Abel. He had the unenviable, inescapable position of having slaughtered his brother by his own hand; not quite the usual position we would associate ourselves being entangled with.

There is another brother in the New Testament that we are well familiar with; the brother of the prodigal son. This elder son was by his father’s side, working his fields, and having lived well off the goodness and wealth of his father. His prodigal brother had left, with his fair share of his father’s estate, then squandered his father’s provisions on loose living.

Did the elder son know his father’s heart? Could he sense his father’s loss? Was he totally unaware that the father was always waiting for his brother’s return? It does seem strange that this brother, who was so confident of his own good standing, did not know or care for his father’s heart. Did the question of ‘being my brother’s keeper’ never present itself? And we could wonder why the father did not seem to have posed the question directly to him.

We have many brothers and sisters in Christ; many of whom are not to be found around today. Quite a number have been known to have wandered off and not just lost their way. Perhaps they may have fallen into a ditch, from which they are unable to extricate themselves,a broken leg, ravaged by beasts. Perchance, they have been entangled themselves in some thorny bush, having been enticed to chase some attractive distraction. Some have even departed directly because of matters to which we had contributed. Would we need to be “found out” like Cain, and will we persist in being the elder son, staying comfortably in the Father’s house, not willing to go and search for our lost siblings. Could we profess innocence before the Judge of all mankind? Do we maintain, that we truly care, to know our Father’s heart.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave an explicit view; one that would make the claim for ignorance or deniability, an act of futility. He questioned:

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? (Luk 15:4)

His last qualification makes the task that much more formidable. However, the blessing lies in the promise; that it is He, who will find His sheep, and bring them home upon His shoulders. We would be merely going along together with Him, whom we call Lord. How could our earnest wane, especially for those who we once acknowledged as siblings in Christ? The apostle John ratchets up by calling it a lie; to say that we love God, when we cannot love a brother, even if he would be the most prodigal brother!

We are taught and do profess that Christ lives, in us and through us; how oft we sing of such. But still we would lack vision, when it comes to the immensity and magnitude of heaven’s joy at the return of a repentant . We are His vessels and certainly part of His Body, yet we seem inert and reluctant to move on His behalf. The Marines have an admirable ethos of ‘leaving no man behind’. Let us pray the LORD that we would have a truer appreciation of import and that in His Army, compelled by His love, it is a truism that no one's left behind.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luk 15:5-7)

God bless.




/ckh