Taster of Death

If you have carefully followed my notes or blogs, you may have noticed that I write about death slightly more than the average person might; perhaps not always physical death, but spiritual death or the putting to death of our selves. The duality of death for the Christian fascinates me. It is a paradox. We once were dead, but if we die to ourselves we can live. And, if we crucify ourselves, we will share in Christ’s resurrection. And so, we really only know life if we die.

More thoughts of death and the Christian were aroused in my head as I was reading through the book of Hebrews. In verse nine of chapter two it says, “But we do see Him who was made a little lower than the angels, namely, Jesus because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” Later in the same chapter it says that, by His death, Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death and He set free those imprisoned by the fear death brings.

It’s a beautiful image. Because Christ has died, we no longer have any reason to fear death. But the part that really stood out to me was when it said that Jesus tasted death for everyone. This called to mind an image of ancient winetasters, testing the king’s drink to make sure it contained no deadly poison. I’ve often thought that a wintaster’s job would not be one I would want. But that is, in many ways, what Christ became for us. I like to imagine Christ tasting death and then handing it to us as if to say, “This is fine. It won’t kill you.” Indeed, death no longer has any sting. Christ tasted it, He destroyed its power, and it’s a safe cup for us to drink.