Lately my kids have been into Netflix cooking shows—I have no idea why, but it’s a nice break from Disney Junior. It seems like every episode there’s always that one aesthetically-brilliant culinary creation that impresses the judges and audience alike right up to the final (and always definitive) leg of the inspection, namely, the taste test. During that test, if you see the judges cringe, then it doesn’t matter how symmetrical, glittery, or visually-complex the dish is, it’s out. Our passage this Sunday provides a refreshing reminder for Jesus-followers living in our current world of rhetorical games, political spin, mass marketing, and Instagram filters: the taste test matters! People crave something real. Thus, if our faith is just a cathedral of doctrines, a set of cognitive affirmations, or well-rehearsed insider-rituals, then it fails the taste test. The South Bay is hungry for organic, nutritious, and delicious lives committed to the ultimate purpose of human existence, and 1 Peter is pointing the way!
James
