Seven Times

When Cain killed Abel, Genesis says, Abel’s blood cried out to God from the ground. And by faith, Hebrews says, Abel’s blood still cries out for justice. I think I heard it in the cries of Rev. Jean Darter’s family when they begged for the execution of Perrie Simpson while we were resisting the death penalty in sack cloth and ashes.

The God who is our justice said, “If anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then God put a mark on Cain. Genesis doesn’t say what that mark was, but I imagine on Cain’s forehead the cross of ashes that we are marked with in this Lenten season.

And the Scarlet “I” reminds me of the blood that Jesus shed for the forgiveness of our sin. “Let me guess,” someone says to me,”the ‘I’ is for Jesus in Latin.” I hope he’s right. And I pray the blood of Jesus will cover our idolatry and give life to a community that need not suffer vengeance seven times over.

-Jonathan