Every time there is a mass shooting now, we see a meme on social media about how Cain killed his brother Abel with a rock, and how it’s not about the weapon, it’s about the heart, and we proceed with the whole circular rock vs gun debate. Then someone will chime in and say that the Bible doesn’t actually say how Cain killed Abel. However, in the pseudepigraphal Book of Jubilees chapter 4, it makes not only clear that it was indeed a rock that Cain used to kill Abel, but more importantly, goes on to highlight, with a stringent note of irony, that it was rocks that in turn killed Cain as his house collapsed and the stones killed him. Jesus used a similar fatalistic metaphor with a proverbial tone of poetic justice when He said, “They that take up the sword shall perish by the sword.”
A while back I was flipping through the TV and came across the first John Wick movie (there are four of them now with talk about a possible fifth). I think Keanu Reeves is a great actor. But I was shocked with the excessive amount of gun violence in the movie that permeated scene after scene after scene. The tag line on the movie poster is, "Don't Set Him Off." We live in a culture of glorified and glamorized violence that is portrayed in popular movies, realistic and interactive video games, and TV shows, and those who are mentally unstable or filled with hate and deadly intentions do not make the distinction between fiction and reality. Any perceived grievance in American culture now, it seems, has to be resolved with a gun.
The story of Cain and Abel shows us that violence was present since the beginning of civilization and unfortunately will be with us until the peace of God (in Hebrew the word is “shalom”; in Arabic the word is “salām”) rules our lands. Until then, whether we’re talking rocks, guns, or any other means, it is absolutely incumbent on us to do whatever we possibly can to teach, model, and embody the peaceable, non violent ways of Christ (and others) and mitigate all forms of violence and senseless deaths, especially among the most vulnerable. We reap what we sow, and as we prepare to begin Holy Week, may we be a people who sow love, civility, self sacrifice, and the flourishing of goodness.
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