He is Risen!
In the early days when the Christian faith made believers gasp with wonder-filled joy—before it became simply a series of truths to be believed—Christians would greet each other not with “hello” or “how are you this fine day?” or “how good it is to see you”. No; their words would be something like: “He is Risen!”
The response wasn’t: “Fine thanks” or “things are going my way” or “everything is going well.” It was: “He is Risen Indeed!”
Whatever else might or might not have been the case—all else had to make way for this changeless and all-transforming truth: Jesus had risen from the dead, to die no more, Lord of All, and if that was true every other reality and every other person would have to come to terms with it. No interpretation of the world can be full and truth-filled that does not take that into account.
In the early years of the Revolution Stalin sent his charismatic and trusted Ivan Bukharin to Kiev to bully them into unbelief. For about an hour the atheist harangued the huge crowd with argument and ridicule and thinly veiled threats. When he was done and silence reigned, a priest went to the platform and said this, and no more than this, to the silent crowd: He is Risen! The vast assembly responded with one voice, like the sound of a massive wave thundering against a cliff face: He is Risen Indeed!
Checkmate!
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.