Out Our Way - The old cows! - Matthew 4:16-17

    Out our way, you soon discover cattle are not quite as stupid as they look. Sometimes they get it more than us folks. I have shared that story of when a mama cow made it clear that she did not want the rancher teasing her baby - and he ignored her until she finally charged at him and he had to jump up on the fence. Fortunately for Charlie and me, we had a little more cow sense than that rancher did. But even so, cows are not the brightest lights in God's galaxy.

If you have worked roundup you know the sound of protesting cattle bawling out their objections and sometimes challenging the wrangler, but you also know that it had to be done - and although the cattle didn't understand at first, we still had to push them to the gate and the fresh pasture awaiting them. But there were always some "old cows" who claimed seniority and sought to block the way. 

The good news is that, in time, the smell of fresh water and lush grasslands overcame the objections of the old cows, and the rest of the herd would start to ignore them, go around and head to the good pastures ahead. 

The prophet Isaiah ( Isaiah 9:2) saw it coming and Matthew recorded its fulfillment. Over the centuries, despite resistance, persecution, and rejection by those who claimed to know better; the Gospel message broke through. The "old cows" of the pagan world objected and challenged it. But just as the herds Charlie and I drove, smelled the lush pastures and good waters ahead, ignoring the "old cows" objections, even so, the people who were done with darkness saw light, understood and moved forward. 

Over the centuries since the Gospel message first began to be proclaimed, there have been "old cows" standing in the way trying to block the herd. They no longer have the ability to smell and sense where the green grass grows and the waters flow - but far more of the herd did smell and sense and know, and thus by the hundreds, then the thousands,and eventually the millions - those who seek the green pastures and still waters (Psalm 23) have known the "old cows" were wrong and, ignoring them, found the way to the abundance that was always there.

As one looks at history, one sees this over and over again. The rejection of the Gospel by the "cultural elites" is nothing new. We have always had "old cows." Those who seek to be god will always resist those who seek the real God ... and history has proven time and again, that they will always fail. Eventually the "old cows" who cannot see or smell the good pastures will be ignored and left behind.

Look at the "old cows" who have tried to block the way. Where is Herod's kingdom? Where is Nero's empire? Where is Hitler's "Thousand-Year Reich" or Marx, Lenin, and Stalin's atheist paradise? Where Is Mao's "Great March Forward" or Castro's "Worker's Paradise?" And the list goes on and on. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it!  The "old cows" will always seek to block the way. 

But there will also always be those who "See the light" - who seek the green pastures and still waters the "old cows" say is a myth. The cows I drove who smelled the lush grass and deep waters eventually realized the old cows were not leading, but just getting in the way. And so, like Herod, Nero, Nietzche, Marx and all their followers, eventually the world just passes the "old cows" by, and moves forward.

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].