By Tony Okafor
The story of Cain and Abel is one of the oldest and most haunting stories in the Bible. It is a story of two brothers, two offerings, one wounded ego — and a jealousy that eventually turned into treachery and murder.
Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was a farmer, while Abel was a keeper of sheep. Both brought offerings to God, but the Bible tells us that God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s. Instead of examining his heart, Cain allowed jealousy to take root. That jealousy eventually led him to lure his brother into the field and kill him.
But the story of Cain and Abel did not end in the ancient history of the Israelites. It has travelled through generations and remains painfully familiar in the modern world.
Cain and Abel are everywhere.
They are in politics, where yesterday’s comrades can become today’s bitter rivals because one has received the recognition, appointment or influence the other desired.
They are in commerce, where competition sometimes degenerates into sabotage.
They are in the Church, where those who should rejoice when another person is blessed can quietly become resentful.
They are in villages, families, professions and even among lifelong friends — wherever another person’s success is perceived as a personal failure.
Jealousy is dangerous because it rarely announces itself as hatred. It often begins quietly: Why him? Why not me? What does he have that I don’t have?
Resentment, if allowed to grow, can become envy. Envy can become hatred. And hatred can become treachery.
That is why the legendary Bob Marley’s warning in his music resonates so deeply: sometimes, the person closest to you may turn out to be the one you least expected. Your best friend can become your worst enemy.
But there is a lesson here that should frighten anyone who contemplates harming another person simply because of jealousy: let nobody harm the anointed or deliberately destroy another person out of envy. Cain did not escape the consequences of what he did to Abel. His act of treachery changed the course of his life.
Divine grace is not something anyone should take for granted. The fact that God is merciful does not mean that wrongdoing has no consequences. We should therefore be careful about the battles we fight, the traps we set and the harm we inflict on others. What we do to another person may eventually become the burden we carry ourselves.
Another person’s favour does not diminish yours. Abel’s acceptance did not make Cain worthless. Cain destroyed what he could not celebrate.
Whether one is a Christian, a Muslim or a follower of any other faith, the response to another person’s blessing should not be jealousy but gratitude; not sabotage but celebration; not hatred but love.
The question is not whether we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. The real question is whether we have become their protectors — or their Cains.
May God deliver us from the spirit of Cain and give us the grace to celebrate another person’s light without attempting to extinguish it.
