“And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy Brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s Keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Cain was a tiller of the ground, or if he were around today, we might call him a groundskeeper. A groundskeeper sees that the grounds over which he is placed as steward and caretaker are cultivated and flourish in the manner that best measures up to the purpose for which it has been designated. A groundskeeper fosters that which is beautiful and useful, and carefully removes that which is ugly, out of place, or harmful. A groundskeeper cares deeply about and takes great pride in the land over which he has responsibility and will work tirelessly to coax out the land’s full potential. A lot of us, like Cain, look at our brothers and sisters and say, I am not going to be the keeper over that. Look at those grounds. There’s trash and weeds everywhere. Nothing good is ever going to grow here no matter how hard we work at it. I do not want to be associated with that big mess. But God placed us on this earth among all of our brothers and sisters for a reason. He has given each of us a remarkable ability to cultivate growth and beauty and strength in each other. We are all so skilled at pinpointing exactly what is wrong with our brothers and sisters. This could fill us with either contempt or despair of ever wanting to or succeeding in making any meaningful improvements in our brothers and sisters, or it could fill us with excitement and enthusiasm for the opportunity to exercise our divine and innate sense of creation and cultivation. Imagine if, in the Parable of the Talents, the three servants were truly their brothers’ keepers. Instead of the servant who received one talent feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of accomplishing something that he did not feel he was ready for, his two fellow servants got to work in being their brother’s keeper and helping him to nurture and develop his talent and overcome his fears and insecurities. Imagine if the five wise virgins had been their sisters’ keepers and helped them to find the oil they needed for their lamps. Imagine if the wise man who built his house upon the rock had been his brother’s keeper and helped the foolish man find a place on the rock so that when the rains and the floods came both houses stood still. When God cast out Adam and Eve, He told them that their ground would be cursed for their sakes. In other words, Adam had flaws to give Eve the opportunity to be her brother’s keeper and help him to weed out his flaws so that his talents and gifts could flourish. And Eve had flaws so that Adam could be his sister’s keeper and help her weed out her flaws so that her talents and gifts could flourish. I hope that we all learn to embrace our divine mission to be our brothers and our sisters’ keepers, seeking always to nurture and cultivate them so that we can feel genuine joy in seeing all of our brothers and sisters grow in stature and in wisdom and in grace before God and men.
