Ever since the first recorded death on the Bible, the good guys usually die first. Abel vs. Cain is the first human personification of good vs. bad, and until today itâs usually the good guys who get seduced by Death.
The contrast of the Abels and Cains in this world has been going on for centuries after the first murder, and is still the example that is being shown today. Thereâs a Filipino joke among teens where they say, âAng bait mo, sana kunin ka na ni Lord.â(Youâre so nice; I hope the Lord takes you). Itâs neither an insult nor a compliment (but it depends on the recipient), but simply stating something weâve subconsciously noticed: that the good ones go first.
Iâve never really been the religious type, except for the fact that I went to a Christian school through my elementary and high school days. I knew how to pray the rosary, I knew the Ten Commandments, I knew who the 12 disciples were, but I always wanted to know why the good guys got âtakenâ first since I was nine.
Another nine years later, I got my answer.
A friend weâll call Anne had her aunt pass away suddenly. She was still getting over the shock of it all, and she kept telling me that her aunt was the nicest person in the world. She always gave what she could give without asking for anything in return. From what I heard Anneâs aunt was another Abel-a nice person who went to heaven, leaving the Cains behind.
And thatâs when it struck me.
The reason the Cains get left behind is not because of unfinished business, or that they have a long life ahead of them. The Cains were left behind because they had to do something before they died that the Bible has mentioned over and over: they had to repent.
An Abel is someone who isnât always doing the right thing, but they try to. They help people when they could; they may or may not be religious but believes in a Higher Being; and lives life the simplest way they could.
The Cains are those who arenât ultimately bad guys, but are easily swayed into giving in to temptation. They are the ones who know theyâre doing the wrong thing but they do it anyway. They are the ones who show us who we donât want to be, and makes everything else complicated.
It was then that I had another realization: the reason Cains stay on Earth is that theyâre given the chance to become an Abel. Which brings me back to my first conclusion: Cains needed to repent.
The concept of Repentance has been practically drilled into our heads when we were kids, Catholic school or not. During Mass we are told to return to God and do His Will. Repent is defined as the feeling of regret or remorse over something, and the priests have been telling us to repent of our sins.
Repentance has been taught to us as our âticketâ into getting into heaven. We are taught that God easily forgives if we find it in us to repent, which transforms any Cain into an Abel.
This may seem easy enough to do, but itâs not. Everyone knows itâs not.
Weâve been taught that we had to be genuinely repentant. Saying that you were sorry for your sins didnât count if in the back of your mind you knew you were going to do it again didnât count.
The Holy Week centers on the idea of Repentance. We remember Jesus dying for us in the cross, another example of Abel. We are constantly reminded that Jesus died for us, for the Cains, for us to see the example of whom we should follow. We may not all be priests or nuns, but just being the person we know Abel would be is all God wants.
And even though we die first because we became Abels, we will be remembered, just as Anneâs aunt was remembered. As a person worth crying for, a person worth talking to a friend you werenât close to in the first place. In the end turning into an Able in a world of Cains saves you, just as He promised. Abels donât die because in fact theyâre given a life forever for choosing to be an Abel and not a Cain.
Death isnât the end when youâre an Abel. Itâs the beginning of Eternal Life.
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This post may be kind of deep, so I’m just going to ask a question for the comments:
Have you ever had someone you know die and you believe they were and Abel? What qualities do they have to be worthy of being called an “Abel?”
