Scripture:
Genesis 4:1-15, 25
Mark 8:11-13
Reflection:
Today’s first reading from Genesis, the infamous and always unsettling story of Cain murdering his brother Abel, is a case study in the pernicious effects of envy, traditionally listed as one of the seven deadly sins, habits that have perennially been recognized as especially corrupting and destructive not only because of the harm they unleash on their targets, but also because if we let them take over our lives, they keep us from growing into the person God wants us to be.
We all know the story. Cain succumbs to the grip of envy because he deeply resents that the “Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not.” Envy slivers into our hearts when we not only want what another person has but also don’t want them to have it. It’s not just that Cain desires the honor Abel received from God, which suggests that Cain could be content if he was equally favored by God. No, Cain wants Abel not to be honored at all. People consumed with envy, whether over another’s wealth, talent, reputation, or success, can have no equal. They will never be satisfied unless they surpass everyone in every respect.
But that will never happen, and it explains why when envy remains unchecked, it morphs into bitterness, hostility, burning anger, and eventually a hatred so virulent that we not only look for ways to diminish the people we envy—to reduce them in the eyes of others—but can even want to destroy them. So it is that Cain says, “Let us go out in the field.” There we see the full fury of envy unfurled, for “Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”
Envy always harms. But perhaps the most tragic consequence of envy is what is lost to the person possessed by it. They spend so much of their life trying to be someone else that they never discover the uniquely splendid and precious and beautiful child of God that they are and have always been. That’s why envy is a game we are always bound to lose.
Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family of Holy Cross Province.