Hold Us Together

The question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" was originally posed by Cain to God in Genesis 4:9 when God asked, "Where is your brother Abel?"  This "question" which Cain choose as a response to God was of course a disguise for his sin, for Cain clearly knew what happened to his brother.  

The phrase, 'I am not my brother's keeper' has since become an idiom meaning that one is not responsible for the actions or whereabouts of another.  It is often used in the same snarky tone that its founder Cain originally delivered it.  The feeling resonating from the statement is one of solitude and that of each man being out for himself.  It is unhelpful and often meant to be a definitive end to the conversation.  

If you have had the great pleasure of reading Jodi Picoult's novel, My Sister's Keeper (so much better than the movie) than you have been directly challenged with the modern ethical and moral dilemma posed as the story unfolds.  I found it fascinating to use the 'brother's keeper' idiom as a title and theme for the choices made by two siblings, one who was keeping the other alive (sometimes against her will or without her consent) due to medical advancements in organ and tissue donation.  The questions of freedom, choice, love, sacrifice, morality, and responsibility are faced and answered differently by each character in the novel, much like life.  

With all this said - from the Biblical to the modern era, the question remains.  "Am I my brother's keeper?"  

Singer, Matt Maher tackled the question in his song 'Hold Us Together,' writing: 

And love will hold us together

Make us a shelter to weather the storm

And I'll be my brother's keeper

So the whole world would know that we're not alone

The lyrics and mood of the song always move me emotionally when I hear it, so I decided to see what inspired Maher to write it.  Maher explains that the love of God is presented to us often in our weakest and most vulnerable moments.  "What determines the love of God is the Church living it out, showing that we have been saved, we've been ransomed, and we can show that by literally extending the same mercy that has been extended to us, and we do it in tangible ways.  We do it by lifting up the broken and the poor and being our brother's keeper, and when we do that we make the love of God visible in the world." 

This certainly isn't the voice with which Cain responded to God out of his jealousy and bitterness.  God's love holds us together and Cain chose to wander for the rest of his days outside of that love.  What is our response to the question and how much responsibility we take for those we truly love?  How about those who God truly loves?  Am I my brother's keeper was a question used as a diversion to our own culpability.