Taste and see

I don’t know about you, but when I go to a restaurant I always feel uncomfortable when the waiter brings over the bottle of wine. He pours a tiny bit in my glass for me to taste and then stands there watching as I pretend to know what I am checking for. Only after I have sipped and nodded my head at him does he pour out a full glass for me and the person I am eating with.

This tradition goes back to the days when the host had to check that what was being served was what it claimed to be. The good wine could have been poured out and swapped with a cheaper one or, even worse, poisoned. The host was the guinea pig. If he was happy with the wine (and didn’t drop dead after his first taste) then the wine was safe and good enough for all the guests to drink.

Tasting is important. No matter how lovely the description on the wine bottle or menu is, you never really know if the food or drink is good until you put some in your mouth.

In today’s reading, Jesus says “I am the bread of life.” The people He was speaking to had been looking for him for a couple of days. He had left them suddenly after performing a miracle where he fed 5,000 people from just a few loaves of bread and some fish. They had looked everywhere for him, perhaps hoping for more free food. So He tells them that they shouldn’t spend all their energy focusing on getting the food and things in life that perish and are temporary but they should seek the food that will give them eternal life.

Saying “I am the bread of life” was a big statement in a culture where bread was the staple diet. Jesus was saying that He is what people need in order to live. He is the essential ingredient.

So how is Jesus the Bread of Life?

Jesus is the bread that gives us spiritual life. When we sin, and go our own way instead of God’s way, a kind of death takes place in our relationship with him. Our sins create a barrier between us that needs to be removed and dealt with in order for our relationship to be restored again.

You only have to look at the world around us to see what happens when our relationship with God is broken and we are not living the life that he created us to live. We see the cruelties, wars and murders. We see the addictions; the hurtful words and actions that destroy people’s lives.

But God sent Jesus into the world to restore that relationship between humans and God; to breathe new life into us.

Jesus, the Bread of Life, gave us an example of a life to follow. And through His death and resurrection, Jesus showed that sin and death need not have any power over us. Through that one action he gave us a new life and spiritual reconnection with God.

Jesus said to his disciples at the last supper when he broke the bread and shared wine. “This is my body, broken for you… this is my blood poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus is the Bread that God sent down from heaven to give us life.

Secondly, Jesus is our daily bread because He feeds and nourishes us. He is the fuel for our daily life. Just as we need to eat food every day to power our minds and bodies, so we must continue to eat the Bread of Life every day. We do this by – reading the bible, praying, meeting together at Church – so that we have strength and wisdom for the challenges of each day.

Just as the saying goes “you are what you eat”. The more of Jesus we absorb each day the more of His life that will come out in us. Through spending time in prayer and God’s word, we will have daily guidance and encouragement. He keeps our minds on the right track, so we will think about whatever is pure, whatever is good, whatever deserves praise.

The people listening to Jesus wanted to know what work they would have to do in order to earn this bread that would give them eternal life. Jesus said that the work they had to do was to believe in Him or to “taste” and put their trust in Him.

One of my favourite psalms says “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him.” It sums up my experience. I was raised in a Christian home, my dad was a Deacon, my mum was and still is a church secretary. As their child I grew up hearing about what God had done in their lives. I grew up seeing them depend on God in even the smallest areas of their lives. But until I tasted for myself it was just like reading a description on a wine bottle.

Throughout my teens and most of my 20s I struggled with feelings of self-hatred and depression because of an injustice I experienced. I was stuck in a dark place, stuck in the past and I couldn’t see a future. When I was 18 I picked up the bible in desperation and heard God speaking to me through its pages. “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing. Can you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

I just knew that God was making a promise to me and I decided right then to believe Him. It wasn’t easy and things didn’t transform overnight but I clung on to that faith and over the years God has kept the promise to me, as well as many others. Today I am no longer living in the past, no longer imprisoned by unforgiveness and God has brought life to the parts of me that were desert places and wasteland.

I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. But I have not just tasted, I have continued to eat, like we all must. The more we eat the more He changes us from the inside out. He will never hurt or harm us and always wants to give us what is good. Jesus, the Bread of Life, invites us all to believe, taste and eat.