During our visit in New Mexico last week, I was struck by the views of beautiful mountains and vast open spaces.
Then as we rode the train across the desert, it occurred to me that many of those open spaces were dedicated to raising livestock. I began to imagine the cycle of life that the ranch animals experienced – cattle and sheep born and raised in the open space would eventually be herded into the smallest opening to be exchanged for the money that all their body parts are said to be worth.
This year we will consider the stories of people mentioned in Hebrews 11. This chapter of the Bible is widely referred to as the faith chapter and the faith hall of fame. The first two verses read: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”
The first “ancient” mentioned in the chapter is “Abel.” Abel was the son of Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:2). He was the younger brother of Cain, who is the first child of Adam and Eve introduced in the Genesis record (Genesis 4:1). Eventually, Abel was murdered by his brother Cain. (See the full story in Genesis 4).
It is unclear to me exactly why Cain chose to kill his brother. Cain brought the vegetables. Perhaps he thought that he had taken the moral high ground by presenting an all organic, plant-based, vegan offering? Perhaps he was surprised – and angry – to be told that God does not accept people based on their vegan lifestyle? Perhaps he thought that he should always be in good because he was the oldest brother? Whatever the reason or lack thereof for his action, the end result was killing his brother.
Which brings us to his brother. Abel brought the meat. He brought the blood. He brought what had been born and raised for this very moment – not unlike the livestock in the New Mexican desert – but not for money. Abel’s livestock were raised for blood. And the blood was and is the larger point. The blood was the right thing to bring.
With the understanding that the blood was the right thing! We might be tempted to look superficially at the circumstances and say that doing the right thing was what got Abel killed…and who wants to get killed…so let’s avoid getting killed by less attention or no attention to doing the right thing…
Alternatively, we could examine the matter more deeply and find that bringing the blood, i.e. doing the right thing, is exactly what God is looking for in our decision making. Abel probably knew this from Day One. Surely, his parents told him (and Cain) the story about the serpent…how they (Adam and Eve) had been duped by the serpent…how they had gone from being unashamedly clothed in light to having to shed blood to cover their shamefully naked bodies…how the childbearing would be a bloody business…how that childbearing would ultimately result in their lives being saved by the shedding of much blood – i.e. their Son’s (Jesus) heel would be bruised but the serpent’s (Satan) head would be crushed…
Abel knew that bringing the blood was the right thing. Even his death, however unfortunate, still testifies to the rightness of doing right:
The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground (Genesis 4:10).
And the writer of Hebrews confirms this rightness:
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead (Hebrews 11:4).
What all of this means for us is that Abel is a type (a prefigure) of Jesus Christ, who is our blood Brother. Jesus was born and raised for an offering of His own blood. It was His right thing to do. It was His only thing to do in order for us to be saved (Hebrews 9:22). As such, we learn from the experience of Abel that Jesus offering, His sacrifice, cries out to God on our behalf.
It is only for us to exercise the faith that God gives us – not faith that we somehow have to manufacture ourselves because faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8) – and that exercise of faith is our act of bringing the blood. In other words, we claim the blood of Jesus as our salvation. That is the act of doing the right thing.