So Cain was very angry and his face was downcast (Genesis 4:5).
We
experience that sorrow in different ways. Someone else’s blessing may feel like
your curse. Their gain feels like you’ve
been deprived. Their gladness galls you
and their celebrating sends you into a tailspin of self-pity.
At
its root, that sorrow – the bitter gnawing we name envy – grows in the soil of
comparison. We look at the life we have and we compare it to the life someone
else has. Most often we’re comparing ourselves with the life we think they
have. Either way, the flower of that kind of comparing is envy. Envy isn’t the
original sin, but it makes its debut very early in the biblical story. We’ve
been struggling with this for a long time.
An Age-Old
Struggle
Both
Cain and Abel presented offerings to God, but “the Lord looked with favor on Abel
and his offering” (Gen. 4:5). Why him? Cain asked the same question. It ate at
him, making him sad and angry at the same time. Cain’s sorrow at his brother’s
good drove him to kill his brother.
And
then there’s the story of Joseph. Joseph’s eleven brothers felt sorrow over
Joseph’s good. The story in Genesis 37 never uses the word ‘envy’ but it
repeatedly uses the word ‘hate.’ That’s how their sorrow felt. They hated
Joseph. They were jealous of him.
As
we read the story we’re hardly surprised that this is so. For one thing, what
we see in Joseph is less than flattering. He is introduced to us as a
tattle-tale, a brat. On top of that, he insists on sharing his
self-aggrandizing dreams with his family.
Furthermore,
all of the things that typically evoke envy are present in the story. We often
envy someone’s possessions and Joseph was the only brother with a tailor-made
multi-colored robe. We often envy someone’s rank or position and Joseph clearly
has a special place in Jacob’s affections. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of
his sons (Gen. 37:3). We may also envy someone’s talents or gifts. Obnoxious
though he was, Joseph had a gift for dreams and what they meant. Joseph seems
to have had all the good, so we’re not surprised at the brothers’ sorrow.
But
here’s the problem. While envy may be sorrow directed at another’s good, that sorrow is not really caused by another’s good.
“I Shouldn’t Feel
This Way” (but I do)
Jesus
made it perfectly clear that envy, along with a menu of other evils, has its
origin in the human heart. To be more specific, my envy can never be blamed on
someone else. My sorrow, be it anger or self-pity, is not created by someone
else’s good. Rather, my envy comes from my own heart. Indeed, the human heart
is the primary residence of all sin.
This
means that pornography does not make a person lust. Food does not make a person
a glutton. Money does not make a person greedy. And the windfall of blessing
that comes to my neighbor does not make me envy.
The corrosive acid that is envy will not be abated by something external to you. The remedy for what ails us is not to be found in a different turn of events or new set of circumstances. And what’s more, you can tell yourself “I shouldn’t feel this way,” but you still will. Envy can’t be cured by earnest efforts at doing or being a better person.
What
we need is a new heart. The Hebrew prophets anticipated a time when God would
make a ‘new covenant’ with us, writing his law on our heart. That new covenant
became a reality in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Envy is put to death
at the cross of Jesus.
Do
you feel sorrow at another’s good today? Stop looking at them and look to
Jesus, the only one able to change what we cannot change.
Prayer:
Merciful
God, change my heart. Forgive the sorrow I’ve carried because of someone else’s
good. Grant me the grace that replaces sorrow with joy. I would leave my envy
at the foot of the cross today, receiving the gift of new life through Jesus,
in whose name I pray. Amen.