Slaughter Houses

Every once in a while when I’m stopped at a traffic light I’ll see a cattle trailer stuffed with cattle headed for Sam Kane’s slaughter plant and it makes me a little sad because…. I know where they’ve been and I know where they’re headed.

Prior to my occupation as a Veterinarian I did part time ranch work. We would put out feed, move cattle around to different pastures, etc. About twice a year we would gather the cattle on horseback and separate out the ones to go back on pasture and crowd the others on to cattle trucks to go to slaughter.

Of course I’ve had the occasion to work in slaughter houses as well and seen these gentle creatures pushed through chutes and a bullet or “captive bolt” put into their brains and seen their processed carcasses end up in deathly quiet freezer lockers. These cattle factories of death are stream lined and efficient.

It sort of reminds me of what happened to Jesus… that kind and gentle soul who walked the countryside of Judea and touched the lives of everyone he interacted with until the Jewish leaders decided his time was up and gathered him out of the Garden of Gethsemane and delivered him to the Roman death factory.

Just like the workers in a cattle slaughter house the Roman soldiers had developed an institutionalized art and method for the killing of people. It started with a process of shaming and physical abuse until the victim was half dead and the driving of iron nails through the hands and feet fixing the poor creature to a timbered cross. All in a day’s work for Roman soldiers. They were stream lined and efficient.

Of course their purpose was not only to administer the death penalty but to do it in such a horrible manner that it would stun the observers into submissiveness. When I see cattle trucks loaded with cattle I’m saddened because I know what awaits these gentle creatures and when I take the Lord’s Supper I’m reminded of the Roman death factory that brutalized and killed my gentle friend and savior Jesus.

One of the reasons Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper was so that we (Christians) could collectively remember him. For the last 47 years of my life, with few exceptions, I have done that every Sunday. It’s sad but… it’s good for me. If you have been neglecting the Lord’s Supper or just taking it casually it’s time to correct that. We all need Christ’s sacrifice and we all need to remember it by taking of the Lord’s Supper.