The Resurrection

Here’s the story as told by Eric S. Ritz in The Ritz Collection:

Dr. Carlyle Marney was one of the great preachers in the South during the time after the Second World War. He was a mentor and role model to many pastors. One of the stories attributed to the rich legacy he left behind took place on a seminary campus where he was invited to be the speaker for a distinguished lectureship. One of the students asked, "Dr. Marney let us hear you say a word or two about the meaning of the resurrection." It was a fair question and an appropriate one from a future preacher to one who was already a great practitioner of the art of preaching. However the young seminary students were taken aback by Marney's response. Dr. Marney replied, "I will not discuss that with people like you."

"Why not?" the students asked.

Marney said, "I do not discuss such matters with anyone under thirty years of age." Marney continued, "Look at you! Just look at you. You are in the prime of your life. Full of talent and energy. Very few if any of you have experienced poverty, failure, defeat, heartbreak or a brick wall that stops you dead in your tracks. So tell me, what can any of you know of a dark harsh world which only makes sense if Christ is raised from the dead?"


Amen!
-PK