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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 because they want to keep the Baptist dollars coming in.
On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a
grassy picnic area. Every "Baptist Day" the school invites 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 30 seconds, an old, dark-skinned preacher with a head of
short-cropped, woolly, white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. "Docta Tillich, I got one question", he said as all eyes turned to
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 never read them books you
read...CRUNCH, MUNCH... and I can't recite the Scriptures in original
Greek...CRUNCH, MUNCH...I don't know nothin' about Niebuhr and
Heidegger...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 erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his
audience and promptly left the platform.
Have you tasted Jesus?
"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." Psalm 34:8
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