阅读经文 

在阿巴拉契亚山道徒步旅行时，你如何得知你是否走对了路呢？你只要跟着沿途画在树上的白色标志——即“火焰”一直走就行了。如果你能看到白色的火焰标志，你就知道自己没有走错。然而，偏离山道，在树林里迷路并不罕见。对于徒步旅行者来说，这就是很危险的“错过路标”的信号。

在今天的经文中，该隐偏离了与神同行的路，迷失了。

在这个骇人听闻的故事中，该隐攻击并杀死了他的兄弟亚伯，因为他感到自己被轻视，心中充满怨恨。罪带来的破碎在人类历史的第一场谋杀案中充份暴露出来。现在回想，古往今来，谁能数得清因罪而失丧的生命呢？

当神为这可憎的行为质问该隐时，该隐却并不后悔。他只关心自己的命运。他害怕别人会仿效他的做法，把他杀了。尽管神很仁慈地为该隐做了记号，使他免于被杀，但该隐仍然在流浪和逃亡中迷失。

在《圣经》中，希伯来语“罪”（hatta 't）的字面意思是“错失目标/路标”。当我们与神和他人疏远时，我们就错失了路标。我们各人都迷路了。但是耶稣找到了我们，让我们重归正确的道路，跟随祂并竭力爱人。

While hiking the Appalachian Trail, how can you know if you’re on the right track? You simply follow the white trail markers, or “blazes,” painted on trees along the way. If you see the white blazes, you know you’re still on the path. Yet stepping off the trail and getting lost in the woods is not uncommon. For a hiker, that can be a dangerous sort of “missing the mark.”

In our passage today, Cain turns away from walking with God and is lost.

In this appalling story showing the depths of human sin, Cain attacks and kills his brother Abel because he feels slighted and resentful. The brokenness caused by sin blooms fully in this first murder in human history. Looking back now, who can count the lives lost because of sin?

When God confronts Cain with his hideous deed, Cain isn’t sorry. He is concerned only about his own fate. He is terrified that others will follow his example and kill him. Though God graciously marks Cain to protect him from violence, Cain remains lost as a wanderer and a fugitive.

In the Bible the Hebrew word for “sin” (hatta’t) literally means “missing the mark.” In our alienation from God and from others, we miss the mark. We are all lost. But Jesus finds us and sets us on the right path, the way of following him and loving others.