The Sacrifice of the Ox: A Guide to the Gospel of Luke
The birth of an ox is great news for the poor. The ox spends his life pulling the plow, bearing the burden in the fields, and bringing abundance for his people. And in a Jewish family at the time of Jesus, that ox might end his life in Jerusalem, a substitution and sacrifice for their sins.
The Tetramorph
Over the millennia, the church has paired each of the four evangelists with one of the living creatures from Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4. This is called the tetramorph:
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- Matthew with the Man
- Mark with the Lion
- Luke with the Ox
- John with the Eagle
These pairings represent each evangelist’s depiction of Jesus. In this article, I explore the pairing of Luke and the Ox, taking inspiration from Richard Burridge’s book Four Gospels, One Jesus?
In Luke, Jesus begins life like an ox, in an ox’s manger, bringing good news for the poor. He bears burdens and brings prosperity to his people. Oxlike, Jesus’ motion is steady and deliberate, especially when he sets himself for Jerusalem and the Temple. There, he dies for the forgiveness of sins, the final sacrifice of the ox.
The Ox’s Manger
Luke narrates many features we include in our Christmas nativity scenes, from Mary and Joseph’s journey to the angels’ song. He also includes the striking detail that Jesus’ first bed was a manger—the feeding trough of an ox!
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7).
When the angels tell the shepherds about the birth of Christ, they emphasize the ox’s manger as the sign of Jesus’ identity.
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:12)
Evidently, it was not common to find a baby in an ox’s manger. The reason is apparent: for a normal child, it is not safe to rest in the place of the ox. Perhaps Jesus had an advantage here, for as Isaiah teaches, “the ox knows its owner, and the donkey it’s master’s crib” (Isaiah 1:3).
At least, this is the idea behind the classic line in “Good Christian Men Rejoice”:
Ox and ass before him bow,
and he is in the manger now,
Christ was born today!
Christ was born today!
In other words, the oxen recognized baby Jesus as one of their own.
The Ox for the Poor
For the poor, one of the best pieces of news was the birth of an ox. Yes, oxen could be dirty, and yes, they would require disciplined effort. But oxen had strength that could lead to prosperity.
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
Proverbs 14:4
Likewise, the arrival of Jesus is good news, especially for the poor.
In Luke, the first event of Jesus’ ministry is his sermon in Nazareth, in which he quotes from Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18-19, cf. Isaiah 61:1-3
This concern for the poor (and warning about wealth) is characteristic of Luke from beginning to end, from Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-67) to the Beatitudes (Luke 6:20-26), to the parables on the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21) and the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), to the generosity and salvation of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).
The Ox at the Plow
Jesus’ sermon at Nazareth is not received well by the people, especially after he references Elijah and Elisha. Jesus tells the stories of Elijah and Elisha performing miracles amongst Gentiles, demonstrating God’s concern for all people.
It’s also interesting to note that the meeting of Elijah and Elisha is one of the most famous ox stories in the Bible. Elijah has been sent to call a new prophet to follow in his footsteps, and he finds Elisha while the latter is plowing.
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.
1 Kings 19:19
It must have been a striking moment, not only for Elijah but especially for Elisha. His life was about to change! Elisha asks for a short pause, which Elijah grants:
And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”
1 Kings 19:20
Later in Jesus’ ministry, he has a similar conversation with a potential disciple, albeit with a different result:
Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:61-62
Why does Jesus seem harsher than Elijah? Perhaps because he is not calling his disciple away from the ox; rather, he is calling him to the ox. Jesus is calling his disciples to himself to put their hands to the plow. The ox and his plow are moving, and now is the time to get on board.
The Journey of the Ox
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is like the lion, moving with immediacy and speed back and forth across various territories.
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus is like the ox, moving slowly but deliberately and inexorably on a long journey to his intended destination.
As a narrator, Luke is especially focused on bringing out this aspect of Jesus’ ministry by “writ[ing] an orderly account” (Luke 1:3). Thus, Luke uses time and sequence designations the most of any gospel text.
Jesus’ determination is reflected in how Luke describes his turn toward Jerusalem.
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Luke 9:51
Like the ox who sees the whole field before him and sets out to do the work, Jesus saw what he had coming and set himself to his task.
The Sacrifice of the Ox
In Jesus’s time, many oxen made a final journey to Jerusalem. Their destination was the Temple, where they would be sacrificed as a substitute for sin.
The Jerusalem Temple is an important location in the Gospel of Luke. The first scene of the gospel is at the Temple (Luke 1:5-23). Mary and Joseph present Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:22-38). Jesus’s first words are recorded from his boyhood visit to the Temple (Luke 2:41-52). The gospel ends with the disciples returning to the Temple after Jesus’ Ascension (Luke 24:50-53). All these stories are unique to Luke.
That Jesus cleanses the Temple is found in all four gospels. Luke explains that Jesus “entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold” (Luke 19:45), a general but brief description. John explains, in greater detail, what this meant for the oxen:
In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.
John 2:14-15
Why did Jesus drive out the animals—the pigeons, sheep, and oxen? Logistically, to create space in the Temple for the Gentiles to pray.
But there is also a deeper theological reason for the oxen leaving the Temple: the better ox had arrived. Jesus was the true and better ox who set his face for Jerusalem to become the final sacrifice for sin.
There, Jesus put his hands to the plow of his cross and did not look back. With forgiveness on his tongue, he bore the burden of his people and completed his work. The strong ox suffered so that we might prosper. The perfect ox died so that we might live.
Image: Ox of St. Luke stained glass from Saint Bernard Catholic Church, Corning, OH. Photo by Nheyob, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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