Have you Tasted Jesus?
At the University of
Chicago Divinity School each year, they have what is called "Baptist Day."
It is a day when all the Baptists in the area are invited to the school.
On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy
picnic area.Every "Baptist Day" the school would invite one of the
greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center.
One
year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for two and
one-half hours proving that the resurrection of Jesus was false.
He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that
since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection, the religious
tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it
was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from
the dead in any literal sense.
He then asked if there were any questions.
After about thirty seconds, an old, dark-skinned preacher with a head of
short-croped, woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium.
"Docta Tillich, I got one question," he said as all eyes turned toward him.
He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it.
"Docta Tillich..."CRUNCH MUNCH..."My question is a simple question,"
CRUNCH, MUNCH..."Now I ain't never read them books you read..."CRUNCH
MUNCH..."and I can't recite the Scriptures in the original Greek..."CRUNCH,
MUNCH..."I don't know nothin' about Niebuhr and Heidegge..."CRUNCH, MUNCH..."
He finished the apple. "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate-was it
bitter or sweet?"
Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in
exemplary scholarly fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that question, for
I haven't tasted your apple." The white-haired preacher dropped the core
of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said
calmly "Neither have you tasted my Jesus."
The 1,000 plus in attendance
could not contain themselves. The auditorium eruped with applause and
cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform.
Have you tasted Jesus? In Psalms 34:8 we read "Taste and see that the
LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." If you have,
rejoice in the hope of the resurrection that your faith in Him brings.
Have You Tasted Jesus?