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Psalm 34:1-8 1 I will bless the Lord at all times; 2 I will glory in the Lord; 3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me 5 Look upon him and be radiant, 6 I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me 7 The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We’ll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. |
Taste and see/Come and see
This past week, guided by the daily lectionary of the Episcopal Church, I’ve started reading the Gospel of John. In the first chapter, we read John’s version of the calling of disciples. We meet John the Baptist, who apparently has his own disciples. Jesus shows up, and John the Baptist directs his own disciples to Jesus. That was John the Baptist’s way. He pointed to Jesus. Two of John’s disciples begin to follow Jesus. Jesus notices they are following. They get into a conversation. They ask where Jesus is staying. Jesus says: “Come and see.”
Soon after that, another disciple (Philip) was telling his friends about Jesus. They wonder if Jesus could be the real deal. Friends were skeptical. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, they ask. Rather than make an argument about why Jesus might be the Messiah, Philip simply says to them: “Come and see.”
The psalm you may have heard yesterday in church (printed above) invites readers to taste and see that the Lord is good. That’s an earlier version of what John’s gospel repeats: “Come and see.” That simple invitation has a lot to teach us.
God, in Christ, says to each one of us: “Come and see.” It’s an invitation to be in relationship with the Holy One. It’s not just about knowing about God. It’s about knowing God. A friend, a priest sees an analogy to cooking, of all places. She says you can read a recipe. You can have an opinion about ingredients. You can imagine what cooking techniques you would use, or what the dish might taste like. In other words, you can know about the meal. But none of that is the same as eating the meal.
Knowing about God may include biblical familiarity, theological study, liturgical correctness, ethical exercises, regular church attendance. But that’s not the same as knowing God. Often religious people focus on knowing about God because knowing God can be risky and mysterious. And here’s the scary part: It can call for change. I wonder if those disciples who followed Jesus later on wondered if life wouldn’t have been a lot easier if they hadn’t asked their question.
The invitation to come and see is not only extended to us by God. It is an invitation we’re meant to extend to others, as Philip did early on in John’s gospel. There’s freedom in that. We don’t need to argue about religion or theology. We don’t need to convince someone else that we’re right (and they’re wrong). God knows we don’t need to dispel skepticism and compel other people to believe as we do. That’s generally not all that productive. We simply have to encourage others to try out the life of faith. “Come and see.”
So how do we hear Jesus say to us “Come and see?” How are you hearing that voice this Monday morning? What does it take to respond? There’s risk involved, maybe like Peter stepping out of the boat to walk on water to meet Jesus. It may call for courage. It’s about being open to a new thing God may want to do in our lives. It’s about being all in.
And how might we invite someone else to “come and see.” I know there is reticence about sharing spiritual experience, especially among Episcopalians. These days, it seems we’re surrounded by people who do it in an annoying, intrusive way. Dave Barry put it this way: Why is it that people who want to share their faith with you never want to hear about yours?
But if we have answered the invitation that came to us, if we have responded to God’s invitation, if we have had what our youth group called a God-sighting, if we have found God’s invitation to be good news in our lives, no one can argue that away. It is a kindness to want other folks to have that holy experience. It is a kindness to share that experience with others.
What does the invitation to come and see, to taste and see sound like to you this morning? How will you RSVP?
–Jay Sidebotham
