Where Is Our Brother?

"Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?'" (Genesis 4:9)

"Where is Abel your brother?" Abel is identified as, "your brother." But brother here has a very broad sense. It means "the other." God asks Cain, 'Where is the other?' Where is the other?

And God's question to us today is, where is the other in our life? All of us have to have another. Is he or she here? A friend, to take care of us spiritually. Where is the other? We have to have another. We have to search for another, to find him or her. Another brother.

There is just one question around the Christian churches. This one question being asked of us is, "Where is Abel your brother?" You know that Abel is a prefiguration of Jesus. The people, I am convinced, are very interested in our brother, Jesus. They are maybe not interested in my Christian life. I can see this. But they are interested in our brother, Jesus. In this great brother. And everything, our liturgy, our gatherings, has to not cover up this other brother but has to uncover Him, reveal Him. Our way of life has to cover up ourselves in order that this brother, Jesus, can be discovered.

[AV, (c)2002]