You'd be hard pressed to find any two Marvel comicbook characters more divergent than the X-Men's Charles Xavier and the unstoppable Juggernaut, Cain Marco. Though physically disabled and wheelchair-bound, Charles Xavier—known to his students as Professor X—uses powerful psychic abilities to fight for peace and equality between humans and mutants. Cain Marco, on the other hand, unearthed a legendary stone called the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and, upon touching it, was transformed by its mystical energies into a hulking human juggernaut. Where Charles relies on his brains, Cain depends on his brawn. Who would have guessed these extreme opposites are actually brothers?
Cain's mother died at an early age, condemning Cain to
suffering at the hands of his abusive father, Kurt. Eventually, Kurt married
Charles's mother, Sharon. But when Kurt
seemingly preferred Charles to his own son, Cain became consumed with jealousy
and took to bullying his stepbrother. Despite growing up in the same house,
Charles and Cain's paths diverged more and more. Eventually, Charles became a hero and Cain
became a villain. Cain has repeatedly attempted to kill his stepbrother Charles
as the superpowered Juggernaut. Thankfully, Professor X always manages to
overcome his stepbrother's rage-fueled rampages.
The Bible tells a remarkably similar story about Abel and his
brother, whose name also happens to be Cain. Stan Lee undoubtedly drew
inspiration from this biblical tale when crafting the characters of Xavier and
Juggernaut.
Soon after Adam and Eve's eviction from the Garden of Eden, the
Bible tells us that Eve became pregnant and gave birth to a boy she named Cain.
Later, she had another son whom she named Abel. Considering God’s command to
"be fruitful and multiply," Adam and Eve likely had many other
children, but these two steal the spotlight as one becomes a hero and the other
a villain.
"When they grew up," the Bible says, "Abel
became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the
harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also
brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The
Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift"
(Genesis 4:2-4 NLT).
You probably already know what happened next. Anyone who
hears the story can never forget. In a fit of jealousy and rage, Cain attacked
and killed his brother Abel, becoming the first "bad guy" of the
Bible. So what made Cain a villain? In a word, jealousy.
Just as Cain Marco envied young Charles Xavier for being his
father's favorite, Cain envied the fact that Abel was accepted by God while he
wasn’t. His jealousy turned to rage and his rage led to murder. By allowing his
jealousy toward his brother to fester and grow, Cain cast himself as the
villain in Abel's story.
Envy or jealousy can be found on nearly every list of sins
in Scripture. The Bible frequently warns believers about the dangers of jealousy.
For instance, Proverbs cautions, "Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a
flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous" (Proverbs 27:4 NLT) and "
jealousy is like cancer in the bones" (Proverbs 14:30).
As punishment for Cain's horrendous crime, God cursed the
ground of Cain so that it would not provide him with food and condemned Cain to
walk as a fugitive on the earth. However, God showed mercy by placing a mark on
Cain so that no one could kill him in vengeance (Genesis 4:11–16). We too can
experience God's mercy to a much greater degree. The Bible says, "Our
lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But—when God
our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the
righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our
sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit" (Titus
3:3-4).
If you struggle with feelings of envy or jealousy, don't let
those feelings fester. Instead, turn them over to God. Confess your feelings
and allow the Lord to wash away the anger and envy in your heart, replacing
with new life through His Spirit!
