The Cow
Animals of Christmas #1
November 30, 2003
Isaiah 1:2-3
First Sunday of Advent
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
larry@larryjameson.com
back to our church home page
Isaiah 1:2-3
Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD
has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled
against me.
The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not
know, my people do not understand."
Jesus Christ is LORD.
It’s important to know who your boss is.
Why?
Well, knowing who your boss is
will improve the quality of your life.
For instance,
if you know who your boss is
then you know:
who to believe
when someone tells you what you should be doing.
who to be afraid of
because only one person can fire you
who you should try to please
because only the boss can pay you
or give you a raise
who to look up to
because only one person is your superior
who to act like
because only one person sets the standard
who to obey
because only one person has authority over you.
Jesus Christ is LORD.
He is the boss of this universe.
Jesus is our boss,
and this is EXTREMELY USEFUL INFORMATION!
Knowing who Jesus Christ is changes everything!
In Philippians 2.9 the Bible says:
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Some day, everyone will acknowledge this,
whether they like it or not.
Sinners, and all persons in rebellion against God
will bend their knees
Holy saints, and all persons in covenant will God
will bend their knees
Angels, devils, and all creatures great and small
will bend their knees
and with one voice, the world will confess
that Jesus Christ is LORD.
This is a fact. It will happen.
What has all this got to do with the cow?
The cow is a symbol of the Lordship of Christ!
In the Bible, the bovine
(which is one of the most familiar
symbols known to civilized humans)
has been used over and over
to be a pointer
that helps us identify
who the boss is.
Let’s start with the second and third verses of
Isaiah.
This is a wonderful passage to study during Advent.
The Prophet Isaiah said:
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared
children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does
not know, my people do not understand."
In this passage,
who is Isaiah talking to?
He is talking to the earth and sky!
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!
Isaiah is playing the part of a prosecuting attorney.
God is the judge.
The people of Israel are on trial.
No one is qualified to sit in the jury box,
so Isaiah calls the earth and sky to fill in.
Now Isaiah makes his case.
Just look at the people of Israel!
They don’t know who their boss is.
God reared them like a patient father,
but the people of Israel
don’t acknowledge God, or respect him.
Why even dumb animals know
who is in charge of them!
For instance,
even cows know
who takes care of them.
And donkeys know
where the master’s manger is.
What’s wrong with the people of Israel?
Are they dumber than livestock? ( Yes! )
Francis of Assisi loved this Bible verse,
and made it very special.
You see, Francis promoted the use of the nativity scene
way back in the early 13th century.
He reasoned that a cow and a donkey
should be included in the scene
because of Isaiah 1.3.
That’s why you often see
a cow and a donkey
in nativity scenes today.
Every time I see a nativity scene with an cow and a donkey
I think about how wise
those animals are.
They recognize Jesus the Messiah,
even though the whole world missed it.
We can learn a lot from cows in the Bible.
The Scripture mentions
cows, heifers, bulls, calves, cattle, oxen, and livestock
so many times, in so many ways,
it is just amazing.
There are cattle mentioned
in just about every book of the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation.
In the creation story,
cows were created
just before people.
(Gen 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock
according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground
according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock,
over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.")
When Noah got on the ark,
cattle were there,
and not just two!
(Gen 7:2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate,
and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,)
How else was Noah going to make a sacrifice
when the ark landed on dry land?
Did you know that cattle are mentioned
in the ten commandments?
Commandment number four
tells us to honor the Sabbath day.
The commandment specifies
that we are not to work,
our employees are not to work,
and our cattle are not to work on that day.
When Pharaoh had a dream
which Joseph interpreted,
that dream was about cattle.
Moses wrote down laws in Exodus 21
about what to do when
a bull hurts someone,
or someone digs a hole in the ground
and somebody’s cow falls in and gets hurt,
or someone steals an ox.
Moses was also given detailed instructions about
how cattle are to be sacrificed.
For instance,
on the Day of Atonement,
the High Priest
was commanded to make provision
for his own sins
before entering into the Holy of Holies.
The provision was
the sacrifice a young bull.
From the prophet Amos
calling the women of Samaria
“cows of Bashan”
(Amos 4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who
oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, "Bring us some
drinks!")
to the story of the golden calf
in the book of Exodus,
to the mysterious living creature with the face of an ox
mentioned in John’s vision
in the Book of Revelation
cattle are important in the Bible.
In the story of the golden calf,
the people of Israel
decided that it was time for them
to be just like all the other nations of the world.
The Egyptians worshiped
gods named Apis (the bull) and Hathor (the cow).
The Canaanites worshiped Baal (the bull).
No wonder the children of Israel
created a golden calf.
They wanted to be just like the other people
who lived near by.
But God had something very different
in mind for them.
Hundreds of years later,
Elijah the prophet
had a show down
with the prophets of Baal the bull.
That story is recorded in 1 Kings 18.
The prophets of Baal the bull
outnumbered Elijah 450 to one.
Their animal god was helpless to start a tiny fire.
But when Elijah the prophet of the LORD prayed,
God sent fire from heaven.
1 Ki 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and
prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that
you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things
at your command.
1 Ki 18:37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O
LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
1 Ki 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood,
the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
1 Ki 18:39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The
LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!"
In many wonderful ways,
God used cattle
over and over again
to teach his people that
“The LORD--he is God!”
With all that in mind,
it just makes sense,
that God would use a humble stable,
the home of cows,
to reveal himself to the world.
PRAYER
Thank you, dear Jesus, for the manger and the animals.
You humbled yourself. You came down to my level.
You reached out to me in way I can understand. Thank you for teaching me with
animals. In your name we pray. Amen.
Special Thanks to Bunk Miller and family from Locust Grove
for bringing a cow to visit us today!
Special Thanks to Dick Cook
for coordinating the visits of “the Animals of Christmas”.
Children’s Sermon
1st Sunday of Advent
November 30, 2003
The Cow
by Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
objects: A nativity scene, and a quantity of “Cow Tales” candy
I want to talk to you about something called
the nativity scene.
Q: Does anyone know who made it popular?
A: St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 AD that was 780 years ago.
Q: What is in a nativity scene?
A manger, and hay
Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus,
Wise men, camels,
Shepherds, sheep
a cow and a donkey
an angel, and a star
Q: Why is there a cow in the nativity scene?
A: Because a manger is a place for cows and other animals.
There are lots of animals in the Bible,
and they can all teach us a lot about Jesus.
After Sunday School there is a real cow
that is coming to visit us.
OK that’s the end of the serious part of my children’s sermon.
Now I have some silly questions for you.
What kind of milk comes from a forgetful cow?
Milk of Amnesia
Where do cows go when they want a night out?
To the moo-vies!
What was the bull doing in the pasture with his eyes closed?
Bull-dozin'
What do cows wear in Hawaii?
Moo- moos
Why did the cow wear a bell around her neck?
Because her horn didn't work
How does Mr. Dick Cook and Mr. Walter Cahall count their cows?
With a Cow-culator
Because you have been such good sports,
I have a treat for you.
(Pass out Cow Tales candy.)
End with prayer.