It may seem coincidental but I don’t think that it is that the names of the brothers Cain and Abel sound like the English words Cane and Able. A cane is used by a person who is incapable of walking or standing up on their own two feet. Able describes someone who is ready and willing and competent enough to confront the challenges they face without flinching or backing down. When Cain in his envy and wrath slew his brother Abel, the Lord said, “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.” (Genesis 4:11-13). Cain did not believe that he was able to bear up under the curses placed upon him. But these curses were not new. Adam and Eve were already fugitives and vagabonds upon the Earth, driven from their first home in Eden. The Earth had already been cursed so that it did not yield forth its strength. Cain was angry that he was given no cane or crutch or preferential treatment or commutation of sentence and this anger and bitterness and resentment led him to doubt his own competence, his own Able-ness, and to believe that this whole cursed existence was more than he could bear. Every single person that is born on this earth will feel like a fugitive and a vagabond at least some of the time and maybe most of the time. All of us will put our minds and our hearts into what we care and love and work and sweat over and find that it does not always yield forth its strength. We all will be tempted to believe that our punishment is greater than we can bear. But what do we do about it? Do we follow the path of Cain, demand that we be marked out as a victim, too weak to stand on our own, needing a cane and a crutch? Or do we follow the path of Abel, facing whatever life throws at us, trusting that the Lord will not tempt us above what we are able? When we truly accept that we are able, then whatever life throws at us, whatever punishment that seems greater than we can bear, we will nevertheless come off conquerors, or we will join our blood with “all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias” (Matthew 23:35) and even the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. Whatever our Cane might be, addiction, short-temper, the love of money, the praise of the world - we don’t need it. We are Able to bear our punishment through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that we must make a choice to believe that we are Able to overcome whatever obstacles and stumbling blocks are placed before us and then act accordingly. It is a sacrifice to face without deception the cold, hard reality of our curses and punishments and afflictions and weaknesses, but the Lord will notice that we are doing well, despite all of our handicaps and weaknesses and disabilities and we will have respect for our offering.
