Sibling Rivalry (Colossus and Magik in A v X)

As you probably know, Spider-Man had his butt handed to him by Colossus as part of the corruption brought by the Phoenix and Avengers Vs. X-Men. What I neglected to mention before was Spider-Man's comment which spared him the time needed for the rest of the Avengers to come back to save him and caused a rupture in Magik and Colossus' sibling relationship:

"All this between brother and sister

is just so... *cough*

so unseemly.

You guys... gotta learn

to get along.

After all,

you both know

what would happen to

all that power if one of you

was to fall, right?

I'm sure

neither of you

wants to see that."

--Spider-Man

Yeah, they turned on each other in an instant.

The Phoenix which gave them power also corrupted them with the will to gain even more power. These two one-time-heroes gave in to the temptation that even more power offered. By defeating someone else with the power of the Phoenix, their Phoenix power was to become even stronger. Too bad their story ends with a double K.O., forcing them both to lose the Phoenix force.

This story bears a hint of what Cain and Able went through. Although they might not have been super-powered or possessed by an alien storm, they were suffering from the affects of sin that came from the still-fresh memory of the Fall in their parents' minds. Instead of knowing love and cherishing one another as brothers, Cain became jealous of Able. The greatest power and honor in their lives was to have God's blessing, to know Him to be on their side. When Cain lost this, instead of trying harder or making a better sacrifice (selling some of his fruits for a choice lamb), his sin-tainted mind killed Able. He saw Able as his competition for God's love and took the seemingly easy way out, taking out the competition.

Cain should have known God's love to be limitless. He could have realized that both him and Able were able to have the Lord's blessing. The sin, now deeply tainting our humanity, led Cain to forget how omnipotent the creator of the universe was/is/ever shall be.

This led to a double loss, just like Magik and Colossus'. Able was murdered, losing his earthly life. And, Cain lost the life he knew. He lost his livelihood, farming, and his home.

The Fall put a nearly irreconcilable gap between God and humanity. Even Cain, the son of the first man created in God's image, had lost his way. Sin has found us and tortured us into living unrighteous lives.

Historically, Jesus came a while after Cain's life. But, it still applies, Christ (God incarnate) offered himself up to reconcile all of creation. He took our fallen lives and lifted us back up in redemption. Faith in this and the trust that God will send a savior (Gen. 3:15) given by the Spirit is enough to save even others like Cain.

But, what can we learn from this? We are fallen. And, we don't deserve God's gifts to us. But, we can also learn that we were meant to love one another, not to hate... not to murder...

"Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liableto judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Although, like Cain and Able, we should long to be in God's good graces and receive his blessing. But, if there is something hurting our relationship with others... a thorn in our side that causes unhealable corrosion between friends... we must face it before we do anything else. Otherwise, the sin will fester and we may face a double K.O., a loss of faith, or another type of "KABOOM."

Gladly, we don't need to worry about who gives the best sacrifice because Christ has already sacrificed it all for us. The quote above is in red, not to symbolize the colors on his costume (like Spider-Man's), but to remind us of the blood He shed for us. It would seem that what we have done to Him, we killed Him, would have torn us apart worse than any other earthly relationship. Yet, he reconciled with us (even before we knew we hurt him) and he constantly forgives us. Now, he sends his power, the Gospel, along with the Holy Spirit to strengthen us. Through him we have become more powerful than any sin or other power could have made us. Not by our own doing, but by what Christ has done and continues to do through us.

We may still fail.

We fall.

We forget to forgive,

and argue with our brothers and sisters.

But, we know,

Even in our weakness, God is strong.

This has been part of the A v X Series