As Earth Churns…22a. East of Eden

As Jesus was proceeding toward his rendezvous with Cain, Anak and Dagon, two of Lucifer’s most trusted compatriots, were reporting on a similar mission.

“So how are those precocious juveniles these days?” Satan inquired of his henchmen.

Dagon responded quickly, “It’s very interesting, Boss. Cain is working the soil. As we suspected he’s become a farmer. He doesn’t spend a lot of time on other stuff like meditation about God or conversation with his brother. In fact those boys don’t seem to get along much at all; and most of that is Cain’s doing.”

“Abel raises sheep,” Anak interrupted, “and he is always thinking about God and singing and praying. His communication is open and seems to really irritate his brother.”

“That’s interesting,” replied Lucifer. “It would seem that Cain just might be reachable for our cause.”

“You mean turn him to our side?” asked Anak.

Dagon interjected, “To our dark side!”

“That’s precisely what I mean. Listen men, here’s what we’re going to do,” Lucifer began explaining in a somewhat hushed voice.

Meanwhile Jesus had located Cain on his farm tending his crops. He approached the sweating farmer from the far side of the field whistling as he came so as not to scare the worker. As he got nearer, having attracted Cain’s attention, he called out in a cheerful voice, “Afternoon, Cain, how are you?”

A little surprised at this visit from the Son of God, Cain acknowledged, “Uh, hello, Jesus. What brings you down here on this hot day?”

“A mission from the Father. He wanted me to check on you and see how you were doing,” Jesus explained.

“Doing fine. Crops are looking good this year. I’m just about ready for the big annual sacrifice,” Cain stated.

“That’s fine; that’s fine,” Jesus assured him. “Just what I wanted to discuss with you.”

“How’s that?” Cain said defensively.

Jesus continued in an upbeat yet somewhat serious tone, “You know the instructions your parents taught you carefully about sacrifices to God, before you began farming on your own were very explicit about the types of gifts God would accept.”

“Yeah, I know what they said. Oh, how I know it,” Cain repeated a little belligerently. “The best, the first fruits, off the top…right?”

“That’s correct, Cain.”

“So, what’s the problem? I’m building up that big pile over there. Every time I harvest a crop, I heap a bunch of it onto that mound. By the time the sacrifice comes around, it’s going to be quite a hill of stuff,” Cain concluded proudly.

“That’s just it, Cain; it’s quite a hill of stuff,” Jesus retorted. “A pile of stuff doesn’t quite fit the idea of the best or the first fruits, now does it.”

“Guess not, but I’m just trying to make a living here,” Cain responded.

Jesus continued, “What you may not understand is that while the type of sacrifice is important, the real concern is the attitude.”

“Attitude?” scoffed Cain.

“Yes,” Jesus persisted, trying to get his message across. “The attitude of your heart, Cain.”

“What’s wrong with the attitude of my heart?” Cain said sarcastically, emphasizing the word attitude with an accompanying sneer.

Jesus paused, not quite sure what else he could say to reach this stubborn human or soften his heart.

Cain jumped in with, “Anything else you wanted, because I’ve got to back to my crops and growing my sacrifice pile.”

“No, that’s all; just wanted to let you know that if you do what is right, you will be accepted. But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. See you later, Cain.” Jesus walked back across the field from whence he had come.

Cain grumbled under his breath, “Yeah, see ya later, Lord.”

[to be continued]