May 20

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But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9

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🔊 You have probably occasionally tasted something so bad that you have instantly spat it out of your mouth – perhaps something bitter or sour, like an unripe fruit – but it did you no harm. But Christ ‘tasted death’. This means that he allowed it into His being in all its deadly force, and, having absorbed it into Himself, He destroyed it there. He did not just taste something unpleasant, like bad fruit. He tasted something that is disgusting both to God and to mankind. What He tasted swarmed with deadly poison, deadly bacteria, sicknesses like cholera and typhoid. It teemed with spiritual parasites that eat away at human hearts. This was not only distasteful, it was the opposite of all that Christ is and loves. Yet he received it because of the great love He had for us. Then He destroyed it. He turned bitter waters sweet and made our lives full of the sweet flavour of His Presence. What wonder and what joy belong to us who love and serve Him.