The Instinct of Sarcasm: The Story of CainSample

Cain's Sarcasm

There is a developmental theory that suggests sarcasm may serve as a milestone in a child’s growth. The simplistic lies we tell as toddlers evolve into something more complex. We begin to mask the lie, cloaking it in humor and misdirection. Sarcasm is often a tool of misdirection. It is a mechanism by which we answer without having to actually answer.

Adam and Eve hid in bushes after they sinned. It is the crude infant's way of covering up wrong. Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, demonstrates how sin had involved. He did not hide from God but used sarcasm in an attempt to conceal his actions from God.

Having just murdered his brother, God came to Cain and asked, “Where is Abel your brother?” It’s not hard to hear the sarcasm in Cain’s response. “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” It is a misdirection. An answer posed as another question. But don’t be fooled, Cain knew exactly where his brother was. He had just murdered him in the field.

In God’s first encounter with Cain, Cain had wasted the lesson. In this second encounter, Cain used sarcasm to avoid it again. His need to give some answer acknowledges the authority of God, but the sarcasm gives away Cain’s contempt.

God wasn’t fooled and he explained the full consequences of Cain’s immaturity. Cain would be marked for life and made to wander in the land of Nod. The passage records, “Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod.”

In Hebrew, it is the land of wandering. Certainly, this was a punishment for Cain’s act of murder, the first death of humanity introduced not by wild beast or age, but through the hand of a brother, but I think God’s statement is as much prophecy as punishment.

This is always the outcome of immature, sarcastic contempt. When we refuse the lessons God offers, we do not become wiser, we leave aimless and adrift. With no moral direction, our sarcastic immaturity becomes our only compass. It leaves us lost in this land of wandering.

Sarcasm is dangerous because it imagines itself as clever. It is faux wisdom that only stunts true growth and trivializes the lessons of God.

You must be honest about your own sarcasm. Do you have a hard time taking things seriously? Is everything a joke to you? Is it possible that it's only a sarcastic scheme you’re using to avoid your own immaturity, to avoid God?

How different Cain’s life could have been. It wouldn’t have taken much. God wasn’t asking for a bigger offering; he only wanted Cain’s attention. He wanted to help Cain grow into something better.

The same is true for you. God is not making big demands. He only wants enough humility, enough humble curiosity, for you to listen. He is willing to show you the way, willing to engage you in the divine lesson you need. You just have to be willing to drop the game and take up the instruction.

Are there ways, like sarcasm, that you cover your contempt for God’s lessons?