A new study out of England reveals that affectionate treatment of cattle — including the giving of names to cows — can increase the amount of milk they give. The average cow produces about 2,000 gallons of milk a year, but if you know her by name, she’ll give you an extra 68 gallons.
The study done by researcher Catherine Douglas of Newcastle University shows that if a cow isn’t given individual attention, then it’s likely to be uncomfortable around humans and become stressed. A stressed cow releases a hormone called cortisol, which inhibits milk production. But farmers who name their cows and speak kindly to them from an early age see greater milk production. “They chat to them in passing,” Douglas observes. “They walk among the cows and speak with them.”
As the words to the beloved old hymn, “In the Garden,” go:
And he walks with me
And he talks with me
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.
Jon Bansen, the owner and operator of an organic dairy farm in Oregon, knows each of his 165 cows by a personal name — his favorites being Cinder, Ajax and Hawk. His grandfather started this practice, making the rule that you couldn’t be head milker until you could identify every cow by name. “A cow that’s happy and calm is going to produce more milk,” says Bansen.
So cows that are known by name will be happy, calm and productive. That’s udderly amazing, isn’t it? I mean this is good “moos” for the dairy farmer—“moos” that you can use.
Well, here’s the thing, God knows that the same applies to us. We will live more productive lives if we are happy and calm, if we know we are loved and cared for, if our creator knows us by name and lets us know we are special to him.
And those are some of the things that our scripture lesson from the letter to Hebrews is saying to us this morning.
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son… The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God…(Hebrews 1:1-3 NLT)
Just like the dairy farmers who walk among the cows and speak to them affectionately by name, God sent Jesus to walk among us and speak to us. Jesus walked among us to show us God’s will and God’s way by being in a loving relationship with us. Jesus can do this, of course, because he “radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God.” So when Jesus walks among us and speaks affectionately to us, we know that what we are seeing is God’s kindness to us, what we are hearing is God’s gracious words of acceptance and forgiveness, what we are experiencing is God’s deep love for us.
Which is a whole lot like the point made in the first chapter of the gospel of John:
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God,
and the Word was God…So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. (John 1:1, 14 NLT)
So the Word, who is God, becomes human, in Jesus, and makes his home among us. He walks with us and he talks with us and he tells us we are his own.
• Not distant, but with us.
• Not silent, but speaking to us.
• Not harsh, but full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
But not only does he make his home among us, he calls us his brothers and sisters. As the letter to the Hebrews goes on to say:
So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.
(Hebrews 2:11 NLT)
Thus, if we are brothers and sisters to Jesus, that means we are also sons and daughters to God. We are part of God’s family. Let that sink in for a moment—brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ, sons and daughters to God. What a wonderful place to be! Just bask in that thought for awhile. What a wonderful family to belong to, a family in which we are welcomed no matter what, despite all of our issues and baggage and junk, a family where we are accepted unconditionally and embraced for who we are. How reassuring and comforting is that?
So, just picture this down-to-earth and highly human Jesus, out in a field with us. He’s a dairy farmer, walking among his cows, smiling and calling us brother and sister, and praising God in the middle of the endless herd of humanity. He’s addressing us by name, showing us kindness and a human touch, and taking the time to get to know us and our odd and unpredictable behavior.
Now for those of you who are regulars around here on Sunday mornings, you have probably heard me preach a number of sermons about how Christians are like sheep and Jesus is like a good shepherd. But you have probably never heard a sermon on how Christians are like cows, and how Jesus is like a good dairy farmer. We don’t often paint this picture of Jesus. More often, we think of him as our Lord, our Savior, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). But, never a Dairy Farmer!?!
Yet there’s something to be said for the image of Jesus as a dairy farmer in the pasture with us. Because, Jesus comes to help us, like a farmer who cares for his cows. He speaks kindly to us and calls us by name, because, like cows, he wants us to more productive. He wants us to live lives of meaning and purpose—lives that make a difference—lives that impact the world for good. He wants us to produce good milk, and lots of it. He wants us to live lives that are overflowing with love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “My Father is glorified by this,” says Jesus, (using a slightly different agricultural metaphor). My Father is glorified when “you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:8).
But Jesus knows that we’re going to be more productive for God when we are happy and calm, instead of stressed and anxious. Jesus knows, it’s better to be blessed than stressed. And Jesus came to bless us, not stress us. That is why the letter to the Hebrews goes on to explain:
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. (Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT)
Jesus died on the cross, so that we could be set free from the power of the devil and set free from the fear of death—so that we could be set free from the very things that make us fearful, anxious, stressed, and unproductive. Because of his death on the cross, we don’t have to worry about, “What happens to me when I die?” We don’t have to wonder, “Does God have it in for me?” We don’t have to have to be anxious regarding questions like, “Does God really love me? Does God really care for me? Does God really want what is best for me?” Because of his death on the cross, we are not consigned to “lead lives of quiet desperation,” which Henry David Thoreau claimed is the lot of most people. No! Now we know just how deep and wide and broad is the love of God for us—so deep and so wide that God gave his one and only Son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. We know that God is for us, not against us. We know that we have the very best advocate and friend and supporter and brother and Father we could possibly have.
As John puts it, Jesus came to save us, not to condemn us. Indeed,
“God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).
Or, as the Apostle Paul puts it:
There is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. (Romans 8: 1 NLT)
Those of us who believe in Jesus aren’t condemned, quite the contrary, we have the assurance of God’s deep and abiding love. In fact, as believers, we know that we have been adopted into God’s family—and are sisters and brothers to Jesus, and daughters and sons to God. This confident assurance enables us to be free of stress and anxiety so that we can instead be happy, calm and productive disciples of Christ.
What a difference it makes to know that Jesus loves us and cares for us. He isn’t ashamed to call us brothers and sisters, and to walk with us, talk with us and tell us we are his own. But this love, is also a challenge: the challenge is to grow in our relationship with Jesus, to take on the family likeness, to become like our brother Jesus, and by our lives reveal the resemblance we have to our Father.
Jesus loves us exactly as we are — that’s the good news. But he loves us too much to let us stay that way. He wants us to grow, day by day, in our relationship with him and become more productive—like a happy cow. As in any good friendship, marriage or long-term relationship; however, we have to give the relationship priority in our lives and really work at it, if it’s going to be healthy, life-giving and fruitful. Sociologist Tony Campolo observes that when the saints of the church become deeply spiritual, they feel “a driving need to respond to the needs of others.” So growing closer to Jesus actually makes us more productive as Christians.
We have been placed under the care of Jesus the Christ, the good dairy farmer, who, according to the writer of Hebrews, “radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God.” But, like all good cows, let’s not forget that our job is to produce.