Cowyboy Logic

Jody Winston
April 24, 2005

Sermon
Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
Around 1989, Michael Martin Murphey recorded a song entitled “Cowboy
Logic,” which describes many of the attributes associated with cowboys. In this
song, we hear that cowboys mend fences, spend money, load trucks, and do many
other things. According to the song, the underlying logic behind almost all of
these actions is that cowboys have “a simple solution to just about everything”
and if you can just see this common sense, you will know how a cowboy will act
in any given situation. In other words, you can recognize a cowboy by his actions.
This point is driven home in the song’s ending. An old cowboy tests a young
buckaroo on “his skill and common sense” by posing the following question:
“Son, if you seen three men in a pickup truck, dressed alike from boot to hat,
could you tell which one was the real cowboy, just from where he sat?” After
waiting awhile, the kid scratched his head and said, “Well, there ain’t no way to
know.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is testing His disciples knowledge just like
the old cowboy in “Cowboy Logic” was testing the young hand’s understanding
of what makes a cowboy.
Throughout the Gospel according to John, Jesus has been continually telling
His disciples that He is the One who brings the real truth and that He is the One
that gives real life. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells the disciples that He will
be leaving them and that they know the way to the place that He is going.2
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3.
2
John 14:4.

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 You would think that the disciples would know where Jesus is going since they
have been told that Jesus is returning to His Father.3 But you would be wrong!
Thomas, speaking for all of the disciples, tells Jesus that they do not know where
He is going and as a consequence of this lack of knowledge, they do not even
know who He is.4 Jesus tells the disciples that the sure way to the Father is through
Himself and that anyone can know who Jesus is by looking at Christ’s attributes
of truth and life.5 In other words, you can recognize Jesus by His actions.
You would hope that this line of questioning the basics of Christ’s relationship
would end because Jesus has already told the disciples that He is in the Father and
the Father is in Him,6 that His words are His Father’s words,7 and that His deeds
are His Father’s deeds.8 But the questions do not stop. Philip has one request
of Jesus, “Show us the Father.” Jesus, who is obviously frustrated with all of the
disciples, asks Philip how they could even ask this type of question since Philip
had been with Jesus all of this time.9 Jesus reminds all of the disciples that one
can recognize the Father by seeing Christ’s works.10
In “Cowboy Logic,” when the young cowboy did not answer the test correctly,
the old hand had this to say, “Kid, you’ve still got a ways to go.” It seems to me
that we also have a ways to go. We are in the same boat as the disciples because
we do not see the Savoir in His works. We want more. We want proofs of Christ’s
existence. We demand hard evidence. We claim that we would have faith if we
only knew who Christ was.
When we act like this, we are telling God that we need more information
before we can make a decision if we are going to reject God. The problem with
this statement is that information does save. God saves. God has given us all that
we need.
Instead of proofs, Jesus tells us these simple words, “Come and see.”11 When
3
John 10:38; 12:27-28.
4
John 14:4. S.D.B. Francis J. Maloney; S.J. Daniel J. Harrington, ed., The Gospel of John,
Vol. 4, Sacra Pagina Series, (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1998), p. 395-396.
This question also shows that the disciples are unwilling to accept what will happen to Jesus.
ibid., p. 394.
5
John 14:4. Ibid., p. 398.
6
John 10:38.
7
John 3:34; 5:23-28; 8:18, 28, 47; 12:49.
8
John 5:20, 36; 9:3-4; 10:25, 32, 37-38.
9
John 14:9. It is clear in the Greek that the discourse is directed to all of the disciples since all
of the disciples do not know Jesus. Ibid., p. 399.
10
John 14:10.
11
John 1:39; 4:35.

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two of John the Baptizer’s disciples ask Jesus about His life, Jesus replies to them
“come and see.”12 Jesus tells the disciples at the well in Samaria to “come and
see” how others believe in Him and His gift of living water.13 Jesus wants us to
“come and see” His works.
There is no need to give a complicated answer on why we believe in the One
who died and who was raised from the dead. We just need to tell others to “come
and see.” That is what Philip told Nathaniel. “Come and see” the Messiah.14
Many people who came and saw Jesus give life to the dead Lazarus believed in
Jesus.15 Jesus is asking us to “come and see” the One who is not a truth, but the
Truth.16 He is telling us to “come and see” the One who is not just one who lives
but instead is the Life.17 He wants us to “come and see” God and believe.
Even when we give the answer, “Well, there ain’t no way to know” Christ, God
continues to work with us so that we will know of Him and His saving actions.
He has sent us the Holy Spirit to teach us.18 He has provided us with the Holy
Spirit’s witness.19 He continues to guide us by the Spirit’s presence.20
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus once again shows us that He is the real truth
and the real life. A universal truth is that most of us are trying to satisfy our hunger
by eating and drinking. The problem is that most of us do not know what we are
looking for. Why do you think that we are the fattest nation of all time? Christ tells
us that we are filling our bellies with things that can never satisfy because what
we are really looking for is God. The universal truth is that Jesus is the bread of
life.21 Everyone who comes to Him will not hunger and all who believe in Him
will never thirst.22 Another universal truth is that we are alive. We wake up in
the morning, do what we need to do, and then go to sleep at night. This simple
ritual for most of us leaves us feeling unfulfilled. The problem is most of us do
not know what we are looking for. Why do you think that we have the highest
personal debt of all time? Christ tells us that we should be instead working for the
eternal by believing in Him.23
12
John 1:39.
13
John 4:35.
14
John 1:46.
15
John 11:34, 45.
16
John 1:14, 17; 5:33; 8:32, 40, 44-46.
17
John 1:4; 6:33, 35, 48, 3, 68; 8:12; 10:10; 11:25.
18
John 14:26.
19
John 15:26.
20
John 16:13.
21
John 6:35.
22
John 6:35.

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 The gift for those who believe in Jesus is eternal life.24
The old cowboy tells us in “Cowboy Logic” that you can recognize the real
cowboy in a pickup truck. The song says, “The real cowboy’s the one in the
middle. He ain’t there just by fate. ’Cause first he don’t have to drive, and then
he don’t have to mess with the gate.” The old hand correctly identifies the real
cowboy because he knows that true cowboys “have a simple solution to just about
everything.”
Jesus gives us a simple solution to identifying Himself. He tells everyone to
“come and see” what He has done.
The cowboy’s attributes are well known to most people: they wear jeans, they
ride horses, and they work on ranches. Christ wants His attributes to be just as
well known: truth and life.
Jesus has given us the simple solution to telling others about Him. He tells us
that everyone can see God through truth and life. It is our responsibility to see that
everyone knows Christ’s attributes as well as we know the cowboy’s.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”

References
Francis J. Maloney, S.D.B.; Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., ed.. The Gospel of John.
Vol. 4, Sacra Pagina Series. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press,
1998. ISBN 0-8146-5806-7.

23
John 6:27-29.
24
John 3:15-16.