Last night I babysat a couple of boys from our church so his dad could attend our Redemption Group session. Towards the end of the night, as they were getting tired, we put in a DVD that they wanted to watch: SpongeBob.
 
We watched Jellyfish Hunter, and a scene caught my attention. You can see it here, watch from minute 2:29 to 4:13:
http://watchcartoonsonline.eu/watch/spongebob-squarepants-s2-ep19a-jellyfish-hunter/
(Sorry for Copyright reasons I can't find a good version to embed directly.)
 
What follows in the blog may seem like a stretch, but go with me here.
 
What happens in this scene is that the sponge has something incredibly good. He can’t help himself but to make noises of delight while he eats his Krusty burger that has been modified with Jellyfish Jelly. The other fish, I’ll call him Steve, notices and asks SpongeBob for a taste. Upon experiencing what I could only describe as a “life altering burger,” he cries out, “Amazing. I’ve got to tell someone about this.” Then he breaks out into a song starting with, “Hey all you people!”
 

He goes on to recap his experience with this life altering burger. Then he passes the “Jellyfish Jelly” out to everyone saying, “You’ve got to try this… it’s no ordinary sandwich… it’s the tastiest sandwich in the whole sea!”
 
In the cartoon the story moves on to show how evil capitalism is, which is an odd turn for a cartoon that makes its money from capitalism. But I marveled at that scene I described above. It’s amazing that Steve had this encounter with something “more,” something “better.” He was already eating a burger, but didn’t know what he was missing. After this experience, he had to share it. Had to tell others of the good news of the Jellyfish Jelly Burger.
 
I marveled because this is how the Gospel should be shared. No, not in song, but in the joy of being shared. The Gospel means Good News, and news is an announcement. It takes words (or song, I guess) to tell others about it. We are to be a people who have experienced the ultimate goodness of God’s grace: that because of Christ’s work on the cross in defeating death and sin, we can be adopted as God’s children. From the beginning of time, God has been on a rescue mission to save His rebellious creation and bring restoration so we can stand in full righteousness with our Creator.
 
And it’s free! There is nothing we can do to earn this, it is God’s doing and we get to be benefactors of His great work!
 
I wondered why my excitement for the Good News of Jesus Christ doesn’t come close to Steve’s love for the Jellyfish Jelly Burger. I’m not saying we go around singing and pushing bibles in people’s faces, but that we live in a way that we look for opportunites to share the good news of what Christ has done, that there's something better way to live than how people are living. There’s no better news and nothing more worth sharing.
 
The Psalmist says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Taste and see.
 
A few weeks ago, Aaron talked about how when good fresh wine is opened, there should be a natural tendency to share that with others so they can enjoy the good tasting wine as well (Listen/Watch here).
 
So here are two metaphors for you.

• Taste the good wine
• Taste Jellyfish Jelly burger

Then go and share the good news of what you have tasted with others!