Out Our Way: The grieving bull

Matthew 28:1-6 "After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an Angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid that they shook and became like dead men.

"And the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He us not here but has risen, just as He said.'"

Out our way, Easter is a day of celebration. For non-believers it is just bunny rabbits, colored eggs, and the festival of spring. If you think about it, that is appropriate for believers because spring is the time of renewed life and the end of winter, the season of death and darkness. But pity those for whom that is all it is.

It puts me in mind of an incident I observed during one roundup when we were getting the herd together to head into fresh pasture. The cow/calf units were rounded up and bunched together and Charlie was moving them to the new pasture. As usual, I was sent to get the "Good Old Boys Club" - the gathering of the bulls who, it no longer being breeding season, were peacefully gathered together in their own private group.

They were pretty docile and willing to move, for some likely remembered I only came to move them when we were heading for "green pastures and still waters." And so when I approached and got behind them, they all slowly rose up and headed down the cattle trail the cow/calf units had taken. No problems. A beautiful day, Meadowlarks singing, a light breeze blowing the smell of sage and cattle and - thanks be to God - very little dust! I was able to lower my scarf and just breathe the good clean Montana air.

But suddenly all that changed. One bull came to a halt, went stiff, then rolled back his head and began bawling like a calf. The others stopped as well and the whole process came to a halt. I had Doc trot up where the lead bull was bawling and holding things up - and when I got there I saw he was standing over the skeleton of a dead cow. He looked down, sniffed the skull, and then began bellowing in what I took to be a cry of grief.

Now, maybe I am reading too much into it, but that sound was not of anger, nor of a challenge. It was directed at that skeleton and I felt sorrow in the sound. Was it his "mom's" bones? Or was it his fear in being confronted with the reality of death itself? Regardless, he just stood there looking and sniffing those bones and making a pitiful bawling sound.

I have sadly officiated at funerals where I have heard similar cries of hopeless grief from folks, who like the bawling bull, only saw and felt the reality of death. But unlike that bull, some were able to hear the words of hope the Easter message gives. Is death all powerful and all hope dies along with the body? Is the "winter" of life the final season and the promised "spring" of resurrection a myth? That grieving bull likely felt that way that day and so do many folks for whom the Resurrection is just ancient mythology.

The man called Saul of Tarsus certainly rejected the idea so much that he became the chief prosecutor against those who declared, with the Angel, "He has risen!" That is until, on the Road to Damascus, he met the Risen Christ (Acts 22:6-21) and became Paul, the Apostle and author of the Epistles that make up a majority of the New Testament.

I heard the hopeless cry of a grieving bull that day years ago and have heard the same from so many others who do not yet grasp the message of the Angel, "He is risen!" But I, and many generations past and present, will continue to declare the Angel's message to the grieving women whose cries of sorrow became cries of hope.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

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].