The Oxen of God

I have no idea what life for oxen is like. I only know that they are castrated at an early age so that they may perform works of service for their master. Castration also bulks up the front end of the animal without which he cannot serve. Without this humiliating work they are dangerous loners, only good for bullfights and breeding. In the Old Testament, oxen were often called bullocks and the young ones (under 4 yrs old) were used for the ordained sacrifice.

We used to live on Oxford. A ford is a river or a stream that intentionally flows over a roadway.  We believed that those waters were of the Spirit. Many people had dreams, early on, of water flowing under our feet while we were at worship. How were we to know?

All I knew is that Hans and I wore the harness of the Lord, and pulled the cart of the Most High God. We grew old doing this and then one of us died. I still have the strap marks on my shoulders which now droop. I never noticed the day I grew old. Nor did I ever notice when my toenails thickened like the width of my neck. We were busy. We were happy, I thought. Then when the oxen grow old, they are killed and eaten by the tribes whom they served. Wow. What an ending! I'm glad this is only a metaphor.

I used to chuckle gently at the St. Clement Mission Luncheon when I scoped out all the aging missionaries. They looked worn, haggard, and still needing money for projects, or had old cars needing repairs. What else was new? We were a sorry lot and if I go back again, our faces will look even older. But I call these glorified beings, the oxen of God.

And the thing about oxen is that they don't quit. They get up and zero in on their target once again. They are trained from a young age, commissioned as it were, to finish their task.

Oddly, the letter Aleph(Alpha) is depicted  as an ox head and Tav(Omega) as a pair of crossed sticks. When combined they mean "Oxen to the Mark."  Fields were plowed in a straight line by a pair of oxen. The driver would point them to specific target or mark, say a tree or an outcropping. And forward they would move until the job was done, each muscle pulling its full weight.

But Providentially, the two letters are significant in terms of their spiritual meaning, together they say, "The Beginning and The End" (and everything in between). This is a self-appellation of Jesus' in John's Revelation. It is also the Hebrew letter for "In the beginning (Aleph)....God created....

You can check it out here: http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/0_logo.html

Now one of us is gone yet the calling and the training of the other remains. Where shall I plow? And with whom?

This is my story now. I am tired. I am scared. I can't pull the cart anymore. It must be tied to a greater power than before. I feel like Lazarus in the tomb, dead. Unless He calls me forth, I am finished.

But then, I am an oxen...castrated, which is more severe than the circumcision of the flesh. What else can I do but move toward the mark?