The book of Genesis narrates how the first sacrifice was performed on earth. A poor animal was forced to shed its blood for no fault on its part. It was to make garments of skin for Adam and Eve [Gen3:21]. It was the first time blood fell on earth.
After some time the blood of an innocent man fell on earth. It was Abel’s blood and the person responsible for it was Cain, his elder brother. Sin was lurking at the door [Gen 4:7] for Cain who would come out ignoring the counsel of the Lord. The Lord had also warned him about its desire for Cain [Gen4:7]. But he ignored this warning too.
Jesus once mentioned the blood of Abel. It was also by way of warning. ‘…..upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation’ [Mt 23:35-36].
But that generation too, like Cain, ignored the warning from Jesus. Moreover they did something more bizarre. They welcomed the blood of Jesus to fall upon them and their offspring. ‘His blood be on us and on our children’ [Mt 27:25]. If they knew how precious that blood was, ‘they would not have crucified our glorious Lord’ [1Cor 2:8]. The most precious blood known to them was that of Abel.
But we know how precious the blood of Jesus is. Because ‘we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem………. and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel’ [Heb 12:24]. So we have no excuses to offer, because ‘if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven [Heb 12:25].
It was God who directly warned Cain, and for Jews it was the Son of God. Cain killed Abel because his offering was not accepted whereas God was pleased in Abel and his offering. The reason for Abel and his offering finding favor with God was that it was out of faith. ‘By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s [Heb 11:4]. Cain acted without faith and the Scripture says that ‘whatever does not proceed from faith is sin’ [Rom 14:23].
One generation passed only after giving account of the blood of all righteous men from Abel to Zechariah son of Barachia. But the spilling of innocent blood continues even today. It is hard to believe that this generation will escape from its responsibility. The blood of innocent babies butchered by their mothers is crying out to God for vengeance. This generation hides their face from God when He asks; ‘where is your brother?”
It is God’s warning that those who spill innocent blood will be cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive it from them. When they till the land it will not yield to them its strength, and they will be fugitives and wanderers on the earth. All these happen before our very eyes, but we go on as if nothing has happened. We seldom understand that the innocent blood that we spilled on this earth is at the root of our problems.
Our only option is to trust in a blood that ‘speaks better word than the blood of Abel’, and as we know it is the unblemished blood of Jesus Christ, our Savior. May the merciful God bless us with the grace to trust in the precious blood of Jesus.
