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"Am I my brother's keeper?"
That question comes from the mouth of a murderer. in Genesis 4, after Cain kills Abel, God asks him where his brother is, and Cain throws the question back like a shield: am I my brother's keeper? He asks it, of course, because he already knows the answer is yes — and he doesn't want it to be.
That question has echoed down through every century since. It's the question we ask whenever we'd rather look away. When a coworker is cutting corners. When a friend's marriage is quietly falling apart. When someone we love is drinking too much, or drifting from the sacraments, or making a choice that's hurting them and the people around them. Not my business. Not my problem. Am I my brother's keeper?
That question comes from the mouth of a murderer. in Genesis 4, after Cain kills Abel, God asks him where his brother is, and Cain throws the question back like a shield: am I my brother's keeper? He asks it, of course, because he already knows the answer is yes — and he doesn't want it to be.
That question has echoed down through every century since. It's the question we ask whenever we'd rather look away. When a coworker is cutting corners. When a friend's marriage is quietly falling apart. When someone we love is drinking too much, or drifting from the sacraments, or making a choice that's hurting them and the people around them. Not my business. Not my problem. Am I my brother's keeper?
