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Brother's Keeper
By Jeff Reed
Cain, after killing his brother Abel, was questioned by God about the incident. His response was, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain didn’t think he was responsible for his brother, but it is obvious that God did. Cain was the first person to take the life of another. This action was the extreme opposite of the love he should have shown.
In asking ourselves if we are our “brother’s keeper,” we must consider who is our brother? Does our responsibility only extend to our immediate family? If I look after my parents and siblings is that enough? Can we expand this to cover our Church family? What about our neighbor, the person down the street, across the country, or in a far off continent?
Leviticus 19:17-18 states: “Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” The word “neighbor” in this passage of Scripture does not mean only the person living next to you, but by definition anyone other than us. So God expects us to love everyone as we love our self.
So what about someone such as Osama Bin Laden? Is he our brother? Shouldn’t we hate him for all the evil he has done in the world? Christ tells us, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’” (Matthew 5:33-34). This is not saying we should let him off for his crimes, but that we should love and pray for him. By trying to apprehend him and bring him to justice, we are showing love for him and for his intended victims.
There are close to seven billion people alive today. It would be impossible to look after everyone like a brother. So what responsibility do we have? How can we be our “brother’s keeper” to so many people? There is an interesting law that God gave, which gives us an answer. We find it in Deuteronomy 22:8, “When you build a new house, make a parapet [railing] around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.”
I personally don’t have a parapet on my roof. I actually can’t think of anyone who does. On the surface it seems that everyone and myself I know is in violation of this particular law. At the period in history when this law was given, it was a common practice for people to spend time on the roof. Where I live in Alabama, this is not the case.
This law is a “brothers keeper” law. If you did entertain guests on your roof without a parapet and someone had too much to drink and fell off, you would be responsible for their death. By building a railing you are looking after your brother’s life. We may not as a society spend much time on our roof, but if we have an elevated deck we always have railings to keep people from falling off. It is usually part of the building code. But the “brothers keeper” principal goes beyond that.
Imagine I have a rotten step on the wooden staircase that led to my front door. If I failed to fix it, I would be in violation of the parapet law. Someone could walk up the stairs and injure her leg if the step collapsed. This law could apply to any action or inaction that could have the possibility of injuring another. For example if a worker at a restaurant fails to wash his hands before preparing food, increasing the likeliness of spreading germs, he is in violation of this law. If someone drives recklessly, she is in violation of this law. If a surgeon and his assistants don’t follow every safety protocol performing surgery, they are in violation of this law.
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Do not let each man look upon his own things, but each man also on the things of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). It seems clear from Scripture that God intends for us to look after each other. It is an obligation that extends to every part of our lives. We must put to practice true love and concern for everyone. By doing this, we are our “brother’s keeper.” i
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