The Taste of Death

Hebrews 2:5-18

What would death taste like? That question comes by way of the writer of Hebrews who uses an interesting turn of phrase in discussing the passion of Jesus Christ. “…(B)ut we do see Jesus…now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus “tasted death” for all of us. But what does that mean?

Think of the common expression it was so close to me I could taste it. Taste requires proximity and Jesus came into real, physical contact with death. In fact, we might take that a step further and say that Jesus ingested death, took death into his being. For Jesus death became a part of his experience in the midst of humanity, just as real as eating (and tasting) food or drinking water. So death was real for Jesus, so real that it can be described an a sensory experience.

But in tasting death Jesus conquered it which means that we no longer must fear it. Yes, we will die, but to use a similar analogy through Jesus the bitterness of death has been removed. As an exchange student to Turkey in 1978 I witnessed––and for one day participated in––the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Devout Muslims take the required fasting of that season so seriously that my host mother would not sample food she prepared for me during the day, and it bothered her that she could not be sure the food met her standards. Jesus has gone to the other extreme and made the way to eternal life palatable for those who follow him. Because Jesus tasted death we do not have to, not to the extent that he did, and certainly not with any fear.

What would death taste like? By the grace of God it no longer matters.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ by whose faithful obedience we have been saved from the full grasp of death. In his name we pray. Amen.