At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they have what they called "Baptist Day." On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten out of doors in a grassy picnic area. Every "Baptist Day" the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the Theological Educational 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 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 wooly white hair stood up in the back. "Doctor, I got one question." All eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it.
"Doctor 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 the original Greek ... CRUNCH MUNCH ... "And I don't know about Niebuhr and Heidegger ... CRUNCH MUNCH.
He finished his apple "All I want ta 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 message, for I haven't tasted your apple."
The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked at Dr. Tillich and calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus".
The 1000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The crowd erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left.
"Neither have you tasted my Jesus".
ReplyDeleteVery meaningful! :)