Out Our Way: The Gospel According to Goliath: The size of an orange

Mark 7: 24 - 30

Out our way, winter can be a tough time for livestock. Most Montanans are familiar with the clasic Charlie Russell print, "Waiting for the Chinook." It shows a starving long horn surrounded by wolves as yet another bizzard swirls across the Hi-Line. We Montanans know what a long string of "Alberta Clippers," and no chinooks, is like - and we also know the importance of getting that extra feed out to the herd in the midst of such dark days.

Although I never owned any cows, I did have a couple horses and, a few winters back when we had a real long spell of cold weather, getting extra feed out to Goliath and Babe started becoming a critical daily task. Folks who are in the know said the daily tossing of cuttings from the round bales wasn't enough and I needed to purchase some grain as well. So I went over to the Wild Horse Seed folk and bought some big sacks of feed, bought a couple large grain buckets, and started filling them up to take them out to the pasture.

What I didn't realize at first was that although herd animals, horses don't always share. I put out Goliath's blue grain bucket and got him started, and then filled Babe's pink bucket and carried it a few yards down the way for her. Well, Goliath somehow managed to keep moving between both buckets rather well, and chased Babe, her foal and a couple other horses in the pasture off, claiming it all for himself.

 I was angry at this and wanted to go chase him off, but my pal Rick told me not to worry. "Fill both buckets to overflowing, set them out, and watch." So I did.

What Rick knew - and I learned - is that most horses are not delicate eaters. Especially Goliath. He shoved that big muzzle of his into the bucket and shook it around, tossing grain all over the place. Then he trotted over to the other bucket and did the same thing. True, he went first and nobody else got near the buckets while he was feeding - but as Rick knew, there was so much grain in both buckets that when he had had his fill and went off to "pick his teeth" or whatever horses do after a big feed, there was plenty of grain scattered all over for everybody else. All the other horses got their share.

In this text, a Gentile woman came to Christ seeking God's blessing. She doubted she would get it becauase most Jews were as greedy and selfish with God as Goliath was with the grain. But Jesus tested her. "The bread of God belongs first to the Jews," he said. "Yes, but even the dogs get the crumbs," she answered. Jesus was delighted with her answer, for she understood what would take so many of his followers years to understand, that the love of God is for all. Like Goliath, some folks feel they are the only ones that matter, and chase off everyone else because they don't yet understand that they, too, are part of God's herd.

On that freezing winter's day I had grain for all the horses, and I intended to feed them all. Naturally, this was beyond Goliath's understanding, after all, he has a brain the size of an orange. Because Goliath was my cow pony - and my my primary ride - he assumed I was exclusively his as well. He didn't understand that Babe was also my horse, and that the others were also important to me.

Goliath got all the grain he wanted, but so did the others, for though he was my primary ride, he was not the whole herd nor the only one wearing my brand. When I went to the feed store for winter feed, I bought enough for them all, and even if Goliath didn't get it - I did.

I watched them all bulk up from the extra feed that winter and was pleased. No horse in that herd was going to go hungry that winter, regardless of Goliath's thinking that he alone deserved my attention. He was wrong for I had feed for the whole herd - and I made sure they all got it.

Some folks can't understand how God could love them and also love others, especially people who are so different from themselves. I know it puzzled Goliath for a time - until he realized he still got the same amount of grain as always regardless how much I gave to the others. Then he was OK with it. And Goliath has a brain the size of an orange! 

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John Bruington, Goliath and Scout publish their insights each week in the Havre Daily News and also on the web site: havrepres.org. You can also check out the Bruin Town Tales stories each week as well as the sermon for the week.