“Taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Psalm 34:8a). Did I read that correctly? Taste and see? We’re supposed to understand that the Lord is good by tasting? This sounds strange to us because we are accustomed to using words to understand things. We use words to understand God–just read the creeds. Tasting has its place if we’re trying to understand what a strawberry is, but tasting to understand God?

The ancient Israelites knew about tasting to understand God. They were commanded to observe the Passover meal every year to remember how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. More than a thousand years later at a Passover meal Jesus took bread, broke it said to his disciples: “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Then he took a cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Jesus commands us to eat and drink at his supper. That requires physical action on our part rather than just thought. We touch the holy. We taste his presence.

Jesus embodied the divine presence. The Word became flesh at his conception. He brought us forgiveness by dying a real death on the cross. He was bodily resurrected to give us eternal life. And in the Lord’s Supper Jesus is substantially present to us in, with, and under the bread and wine.

At the Lord’s table we encounter the living God. Taste and see that the LORD is good.

Read Psalm 34 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne