3 questions from God are right prompt to check our choices, duties in world of discord

In our deeply polarized time and place, we are constantly bombarded with answers and arguments — almost all of which amplify the discord and rancor.

Perhaps, then, the better way forward might be through well-considered questions. We might begin with the three queries God addresses to humankind in the opening chapters of Genesis.

The first two come just after Adam and Eve eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Garbed in their newly sewn fig leaves, they hide themselves from the Holy One, who responds by asking: “Where are you?” and “What have you done?”

As countless commentators remind us, these are not requests for information. God knows full well where they are, and what they’ve done. God’s questions are, instead, an invitation — an opportunity for Adam and Eve to reflect on their deeds and take responsibility for their choices. They blow their chance. Adam blames Eve, who in turn blames the snake.

But the questions remain for us, their spiritual descendants. Sooner or later, God — or if you prefer, the universe — will inevitably disturb our peace and ask: “Where are you?” and “What have you done?” When those challenges come, we each face the same choice as Adam and Eve. Will we, too, hide — and in so doing, die a little more each day? Or will we muster the courage to reflect on our choices, acknowledge our failings, and begin the hard but holy work of returning to the right path that begins when we step up and proclaim: “Here I am.”

The third question is directed at Cain, after he kills Abel. The Holy One asks him — and each of us — “Where is your brother?” Again, having witnessed the murder, God poses the question as an invitation rather than a request for information. And again, like his parents, Cain misses the opportunity, callously responding, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Here, too, the question remains for us. We are, indeed, called to be keepers of our brothers and sisters. The only way to live and answer this call is with our deeds, in accord with the vision of the prophet Isaiah: “To unlock the shackles of injustice, to undo the fetters of bondage, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every cruel chain. To share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into your house. When you see the naked, to clothe them, and never to hide yourself from your own kin.”

Where are you?

What have you done?

Where are your brothers and sisters?

The answers to each of these essential questions are in our hearts, heads and hands. The burning, broken world we inhabit anxiously awaits our response.