The Taste Test

Greeks think differently than the English which is reflected in the two languages.In this piece I want to bring Greek thinking to English speakers. English-speakers say that God tests people.He allows us to be tempted and to suffer to see how we will respond. Will we become angry or patient? Will we hurt back or turn a cheek? In bad times, will we still trust Him or abandon Him willy-nilly?

There’s the vehicle crash test and there’s the mid-term exam. One test aims to destroy to find weaknesses to correct and the other one determines whether knowledge has been absorbed.

On the other hand, the Greeks say that God ‘tastes’ us. To be tasted is less about achievement than about being. A good pudding is not like a strong Volvo or a math exam. There is artistry in cooking that doesn’t exist in testing.

As the world turns things happen by natural causes and by human causes. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and droughts create situations that can be compared to poverty, divorce, and crime. When very bad, or even very good things happen in our lives, whether we see the situation as a test or an opportunity to add flavor may inform our response. We are the chefs of ourselves. We become sweet or sour by our own making. A test, on the other hand, is done to us. React to tests, or create tastes?

Does God send us disease or misfortune to see if we pass or fail or does He merely taste us to see how we are turning out as a consequence of living in nature and among a variety of flavors of other people?

Cooking is the relationship of flavors and textures, of ratios and of becoming something better with extreme heat or cold, with whipping, and whisking, chopping and dicing. Food goes through much of what we could call abuse with some fabulous results, so do some people.

God tastes Frances who just had a mastectomy. Did she become more tender and devoted to Him by the experience or did she harden? That depends on the other ingredients that she chose to add to the whipping of the mastectomy, either a cup of self pity or a cup of wonder? Did she whip up some inner courage and bravery or did she bruise and rot in fear? Frances is delicious; many ingredients go into her sweet being.

We cook ourselves while being exposed to various situations and by absorbing wisdom and knowledge through the arts (e.g. literature, music, painting, and theater.) God is simply the taster, not the chef. We are the chef of ourselves. The Greeks would claim that to say Frances was tested by her mastectomy is too simplistic to be accurate. Also, the notion of a test pits the testor and the tested at odds with each other. The concept of being tasted creates a friendlier relationship between the foodie and God.

Even English-speakers see people as having flavor. We say things like, ‘David is so sweet that honey pours out of his mouth. Rona is a bitter person, always looking for blame and fault. Little Sammy is so cute; Beth wants to eat him from head to toe.’ People as food; it makes sense.

We are asked to taste God too. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”

We love to eat! Let us take the art of cooking, to heart!

Bon Appétit, Lord!