The City is where we work out our corporate life: Cain & Abel
Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch. Genesis 4.
With the story of Cain and Abel, everything about cities seems to get off to a very negative start. It seems that they are founded out of restlessness, out of wandering. It seems that they are rooted in being cut off from the land, and murder and violence and blood. It seems, at first glance, that the opportunities for cities are nothing but dread and death. At first glance they seem to come out of everything that is antithesis to God and community.
But when we stop and look at the story closer, many more questions arise. Why did God mark Cain in such a way that no one on earth would be allowed to kill him? Why did God allow Cain to go off, seemingly of his own volition, to start a new life, away from his family? Finally, the biggest question of the whole text, why did God reject Cain’s offering and sacrifices? Is the death of Abel God’s fault? Is this some sick and demented plan God has in place to start something new? Why did these things happen in this way?
Terence Fretheim in his commentary on Genesis suggests the following: “The seven generations of Cain may mirror the seven days of creation, thus placing human creativity parallel to the divine. Just as one may marvel at the great diversity of God’s creation, so also human creativity mirrors God’s in producing numerous gifts and interests.” He goes on to say that the names of the three sons of Lamech, one of the offspring of Cain, in Genesis 4:19-22 are similar in that they mean capability and productivity, all that goes on in the city.
I find this fascinating, that Cain, desiring to reconnect with God, started a city, named it Enoch and adjusted, or shifted his life style so that he could continue to make offerings and sacrifices that would please Yahweh, my own interpretation there, but his remorse in the story says to me he would forever try to reconnect, root himself again in God.
We are extraordinarily adaptable people, we shift and move and adjust in ways that can leave the mind completely aghast. The city is not unlike that, the city is constantly changing and adapting, welcoming new neighborhoods and new people, creating space for businesses and opportunities for growth and transformation. The city is a diverse place that lives its life mirroring the diversity of God’s creation. I am reminded of how much influence and power we as human beings have, and that God has granted us an opportunity to participate in the creativity and great work of the imagination that God started so long ago in creation.
It is in the city that we must work out our corporate life. It is in the city where this wandering is rooted again in our home. It is in the city where diversity, ripped apart by hatred, as Cain seemed to hate Abel for having a better offering, is knit back together, repaired and made new so that the city may again mirror God’s diversity. It is in the city that the church emerges, made new and created into an organism functioning as a place of rest and peace, as a place of hope and renewal, as a place of joy and creativity.
It seemed, at our beginning, that everything about cities was going to be negative, but even in the midst of murder God marks Cain in such a way that keeps him alive. Cain chooses to leave God’s presence, but God chooses to remain. The city is often considered a place of evil, a place far away from God, but that is most likely because we are more afraid of the other represented by the city, we are afraid, even, of God’s working and moving, challenging us to change and confront those things we fear.
The city is the place where we work out our corporate life, the city is the place where God, seemingly absent, still lives and works besides us, marked both protectively as Cain was marked, but also marked in Baptism and as part of the body of Christ, participating with God in the joy of the Kingdom here on earth.
Please comment away, this is just a beginning!
Be well,
A+
With the story of Cain and Abel, everything about cities seems to get off to a very negative start. It seems that they are founded out of restlessness, out of wandering. It seems that they are rooted in being cut off from the land, and murder and violence and blood. It seems, at first glance, that the opportunities for cities are nothing but dread and death. At first glance they seem to come out of everything that is antithesis to God and community.
But when we stop and look at the story closer, many more questions arise. Why did God mark Cain in such a way that no one on earth would be allowed to kill him? Why did God allow Cain to go off, seemingly of his own volition, to start a new life, away from his family? Finally, the biggest question of the whole text, why did God reject Cain’s offering and sacrifices? Is the death of Abel God’s fault? Is this some sick and demented plan God has in place to start something new? Why did these things happen in this way?
Terence Fretheim in his commentary on Genesis suggests the following: “The seven generations of Cain may mirror the seven days of creation, thus placing human creativity parallel to the divine. Just as one may marvel at the great diversity of God’s creation, so also human creativity mirrors God’s in producing numerous gifts and interests.” He goes on to say that the names of the three sons of Lamech, one of the offspring of Cain, in Genesis 4:19-22 are similar in that they mean capability and productivity, all that goes on in the city.
I find this fascinating, that Cain, desiring to reconnect with God, started a city, named it Enoch and adjusted, or shifted his life style so that he could continue to make offerings and sacrifices that would please Yahweh, my own interpretation there, but his remorse in the story says to me he would forever try to reconnect, root himself again in God.
We are extraordinarily adaptable people, we shift and move and adjust in ways that can leave the mind completely aghast. The city is not unlike that, the city is constantly changing and adapting, welcoming new neighborhoods and new people, creating space for businesses and opportunities for growth and transformation. The city is a diverse place that lives its life mirroring the diversity of God’s creation. I am reminded of how much influence and power we as human beings have, and that God has granted us an opportunity to participate in the creativity and great work of the imagination that God started so long ago in creation.
It is in the city that we must work out our corporate life. It is in the city where this wandering is rooted again in our home. It is in the city where diversity, ripped apart by hatred, as Cain seemed to hate Abel for having a better offering, is knit back together, repaired and made new so that the city may again mirror God’s diversity. It is in the city that the church emerges, made new and created into an organism functioning as a place of rest and peace, as a place of hope and renewal, as a place of joy and creativity.
It seemed, at our beginning, that everything about cities was going to be negative, but even in the midst of murder God marks Cain in such a way that keeps him alive. Cain chooses to leave God’s presence, but God chooses to remain. The city is often considered a place of evil, a place far away from God, but that is most likely because we are more afraid of the other represented by the city, we are afraid, even, of God’s working and moving, challenging us to change and confront those things we fear.
The city is the place where we work out our corporate life, the city is the place where God, seemingly absent, still lives and works besides us, marked both protectively as Cain was marked, but also marked in Baptism and as part of the body of Christ, participating with God in the joy of the Kingdom here on earth.
Please comment away, this is just a beginning!
Be well,
A+
Comments
I've been enjoying working w/ this. I've posted further thoughts on Grown Up Church about trying to understand the text, about the city as a place of being cut off from the land but connected to people, creating choices to interact with to those people like Cain did to Able or as our sisters' & brothers' keepers.