The Instinct of Sarcasm: The Story of Cainনমুনা

The Way of Cain Continues

You don’t often find yourself turning to the book of Jude. The whole book is a single chapter and it wouldn’t take you long to read the whole thing. It’s actually a pretty fascinating read.

Jude writes to deal with corrupt teachers who were taking advantage of the church. Jude backs his short letter with a long list of Old Testament allusions and Jewish images. There is a lot to unpack, but at the center of the letter, he uses a fascinating phrase. These corrupt teachers walked in the way of Cain. It’s one of the few places outside of Genesis Cain is mentioned.

So, what does it mean to walk in the way of Cain? According to Jude, these corrupt teachers were encouraging Christians to indulge in perverse lifestyles. Jude says they were perverting the grace of God into sensuality. They were teaching people to indulge their raw desires.

Jude makes this clearer in writing, “they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.” In other words, they were releasing people to act like animals, indulging every instinct without question or consideration. It’s this instinctive indulgence that Jude calls the way of Cain. Isn’t that what Cain did?

Having carefully read through Cain’s story, you can probably recognize why Jude was drawn to this comparison. Cain’s immaturity and sarcasm were about self-indulgence. He refused God’s lesson because he knew it would require more from him. To mature, he would have to be honest about his desires and willing to submit to God’s lessons and commands. He chose a cheap trick, sarcasm, to try and avoid God’s lesson. His compulsion to murder is more animalistic than reasoned.

Jude recognized that these false teachers were using the same trick. They sounded religious, but it was a cover for self-indulgence. And Jude recognized it had the same result, a perpetual immaturity that left the person aimless and adrift.

I’m fascinated by the list of images Jude concludes with. It’s worth rereading and thinking about. Those who indulge their instincts are like a hidden reef, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds, fruitless trees, wandering stars.

Those images are all deceptions. Things which may appear true, but on closer inspection are insufficient and dangerous. Like sarcasm, they hide their real danger.

There are plenty of teachers today who recommend the same instinctive indulgences. There are plenty of young men trapped in their own immaturity, trapped in this way of Cain.

Don’t be fooled. Don’t trust your instincts. Instead, recognize that your instincts need to be checked. You need to grow beyond yourself.

Can you recognize this way of Cain in your own life? Can you recognize places you mindlessly indulge what you feel?