Sweet Jesus

So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth. – Revelation 10:10a (NRSV) 

The story goes that an aged preacher went to a lecture given by a theologian at a local university. After a long and erudite talk about all the logic that supports the reality of a Divine Being, during which there was much nodding of heads and taking of notes, the theologian took questions.  

The old preacher put one hand in the air. With the other hand, he reached into his coat pocket for an apple which he began to eat. They say that when at last he was called upon, he was still chewing.  

“Now, Professor (chomp, chomp), I hear you talk about the ground-of-being-this and the omniscient-overseer-that (chew, chew). But I wonder (gulp, gulp), can you tell me what this apple tastes like?” 

The professor sighed with exasperation and replied that of course he could not.  

“So let me get this right. Unless you have taken a bite, you don’t know what it tastes like, is that correct?” 

“Correct.” The professor looked around somewhat frantically for another raised hand.  

“I do believe,” the preacher continued, “that you have not yet taken a bite of the Living Christ either. Because I have tasted Jesus! And he is sweet!” 

For people with an embodied faith—whose God came to us in the form of a living, breathing human being—we are often a curiously disembodied people. When you hear about the Holy One, do you nod and take notes? Or do you receive Christ with all your senses?  

Prayer 
Sweet Jesus: May we taste, touch, smell, see and hear you. Amen.

About the Author
Rev. Jennifer Garrison (formerly Brownell) is a writer, spiritual director and pastor living in the Pacific Northwest. Her published work most recently appeared in the book The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle, available from The Pilgrim Press.