GLEANINGS — October 20, A.D. 2013                                                                                                               "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"
There's a new version of that cheeky question, which Cain uttered at the dawn of history in response to the One Who had first asked Cain "Where is your brother?" 
Perhaps when you have asked one person about the whereabouts of another, you've gotten that new version of Cain's cheekiness: "I don't know, it's not my day to watch him!" Perhaps you've even given that answer when someone asked you about another's whereabouts.
Somtimes, perhaps, nothing more than a desire to be cute or witty motivates such a response. But thinking Biblically, the God-pleasing mindset is YES, I am my brother's or my sister's "keeper!" YES, every day is my day to watch out for him or her! Author Robert E. Smith puts it this way:
"It is amazing to me that after thousands of years the attitude Cain demonstrated still exists. Most of us don't murder our brother as he did, but we do something far worse in the spiritual sense. We write him off as unnecessary to us, or we allow ourselves to verbally kill his reputation, thinking that we can objectively judge him and his actions. We abandon him in his hour of need and think him unworthy of genuine fellowship. That is far worse than if you took his life and sent him Home." *
Included in the many ways by which the Scriptures depict how Christ relates to the redeemed is as their Elder Brother. (See Matthew 28:10, Hebrews 2:17 and consider Joseph the son of Jacob as the one who foreshadowed this role of Christ toward His people.) As our Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus is the One Who keeps us (John 17:12). How does He do that?
Jesus prayed before He chose out the twelve from the greater body of His disciples. (Luke 6:12,13). He prayed for Peter (Luke 22:32). He "ever lives above" interceding now in heaven (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25). As Psalm 121:5 says "The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand." Jesus is the LORD our Keeper.
The Son of God is the great Peacemaker, having made peace by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20). He said that peacemakers would be like Him; that is, they would be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9). Similarly, we who throughout life are being conformed to Christ's image (Romans 8:29) are to be keepers of our brothers and sisters, just as He is their great Keeper.
Let us not be pharisaically narrow in how we think of the Sixth Commandment, as if it is nothing more than a prohibition against violent deeds like Cain's. As the force of the Second Commandment is to direct all we do in worship or as the Fifth Commandment informs the conscience concerning all God ordained human authority, so the Sixth Commandment, "You shall not murder," requires that we revere the sanctity of life; it insists that we defend, support, and protect the lives of others (born or unborn).
IF Cain had been innocent, perhaps his response would have been, "O Lord, has something happened to my dear brother? Please forgive me for not watching out for Abel! I will go right away to diligently seek him and inquire about his welfare!"
May our disposition toward our brothers and sisters be so. We ARE one another's keepers!
*[nobody.hubpages.com/hub/Part-2-Am-I-My-Brothers-Keeper-Jesus-Commanded-Have-Real-Fellowship] Please note, this web page might have ads of a religious but not necessarily Christian nature.