Morning Devotion for Epiphany
Wednesday January 11, 2022
The Invitatory
I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Genesis 4:1-16
Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
How should we respond to the fact that the first human death recorded in Scripture is fratricide – the murder of a brother? Moreover, how should we respond to the fact that fratricide is the first sin resulting from “The Fall” in the Garden of Eden? Man’s rebellion against God is his first trespass, and man’s rebellion against his own brother is the sacrament – the outward and visible sign – of that same trespass.
“The Fall” in the Garden is a story of overstepping the boundaries God had ordered in Creation. To hurdle the divide between himself and God, man feasts upon the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The tragic result is that man is raised no higher to share in the life of the Divine but is merely divided further. Man attempts to raise himself to the place of Creator but discovers that this reckless hunger for knowledge has only removed himself further from God and his nearest kin.
After Adam and Eve share of the fruit in the Garden, we become aware of their tragic state. When prior to “The Fall,” both man and woman had been addressed by God together as one, now for the first time in Scripture human beings are addressed by God as separate individuals. Rebellion against the Creator has heightened the human awareness of difference, heightened the frustration with said difference, and will now spur a jealous Cain towards the murder of his own brother. The human being who has forgotten the infinite worth of his Creator is likely to forget the worth of his fellow man.
The corrective to “The Fall” is not the elimination of difference in the human family, nor a return to “Eden.” Rather, our corrective might be discovered from a renewed understanding of “what” we fundamentally are. The liturgical theologian, Alexander Schmemann says that as human beings we are not merely homo sapiens but homo adorans. More intrinsic to being human than the hunger for knowledge is the necessity of worship. The human who can recognize his perpetual standing before God in worship is the one who will be aware of what he is, what he was made for, and who he is called to be. The one who can stand before God’s presence in worship is the same one who will be found in the presence of his fellow man gathered in awe and wonder.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
O God, who created all peoples in your image, we thank you for the wonderful diversity of races and cultures in this world. Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of fellowship, and show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect in our love for all your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
