The story of Cain and Abel highlights the problem of ungodly rivalry among God’s people. There are, of course, harmless rivalries, like between competing teams. But the rivalry that the Bible speaks of has to do with selfish ambition, and the desire to have or get more than others. In the Church, such rivalries are out of step. We are called, rather, to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper, and today we’re going to learn that this in possible through the blood of Christ, which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel: not a word of condemnation, but mercy and forgiveness.
