Envy Series

History tells of a statue that was erected to Theogenes, a celebrated victor in the Greek public games. The erection of this statue so excited the envious hatred of one of his rivals that he went every night and strove to throw the statue over by repeated blows. Ultimately he succeeded, but alas, the statue fell upon him, and he was crushed to death beneath it. Such generally is the end of the man who allows himself to be carried away by the spirit of envy.

St. Thomas Aquinas defines envy as “sorrow or sadness over another’s good because that good is regarded as something withheld or taken away from the envious person’s excellence or reputation.” The CCC puts it more simply: “It refers to the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor, it is a mortal sin” (2539).

Do you sometimes think as you drive: “Why does my neighbor get to drive that lovely Mercedes, while I am saddled with this tin can.” Or, when you see a beautiful woman in the mall: “Why did God make her so pretty and me so plain? I wish it would be other way around.” Or, if you’re in the spiritual ‘business’: “Why has God blessed him with such a successful ministry, and me, despite my years of service, with just a handful of people?”

That’s envy. And it’s deadly. Like Basilea Schlink said, envy is like “a poisonous root in our soul that can kill others, and ourselves.” Or, if you prefer Scriptural quotations, here’s one from the Book of Proverbs: “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones” (Proverbs 4:30 NIV).

We don’t have to look too far to see the truth of these statements. One of the first stories in the Bible is a story of envy—and its consequences. As there are many insights we can obtain from it, I reproduce the passage here, slightly abridged.

Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him (Genesis 4:1-8).

Why God accepted Abel’s offering and not Cain’s is something we can speculate about, but it’s vital we don’t miss the main point of the story, which is Cain’s deep-seated hatred of his younger brother—a hatred fermenting from envy—and the horrific consequences thereof.

God warned Cain—as he does all of us—of these consequences: “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Sin is like a drooling beast, waiting with fangs bared to see what we will do with the turbulent emotions raging within us. Tame them, and we’ll be spared. Give in, and we’re dinner.

Cain didn’t heed the warning and sin devoured him. It corroded his insides with poisonous hatred until he was finally consumed by it. The result? While the life of one man was literally snuffed out, the spiritual life of the other ended. Cain became an outcast, consigned forever to be “a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

There are several others stories of envious people in the Bible. Joseph’s brothers were envious of the love their father had for him and tried to kill him. Saul was envious of David and he, too, tried to kill him. Envy always results in attempts to kill, if not the body then the spirit. It also always backfires.

A classic tale is told by the preacher Dwight L. Moody. An eagle was envious of another that could fly better than he could. One day, the bird saw a sportsman with a bow and arrow and said to him, “I wish you would bring down that eagle up there.” The man said he would if he had some feathers for his arrow. So the envious eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it didn’t quite reach the rival bird because he was flying too high. The first eagle pulled out another feather, then another – until he had lost so many that he couldn’t fly himself. The archer took advantage of the situation, turned around, and killed the helpless bird.