Heart Tracks - He Is Risen...Indeed!

     In Luke 24, after their encounter with the risen Christ on the Emmaus Road, the two disciples went to the other followers of the Lord and reported, "The Lord has risen indeed."  Before this time, others had reported this reality as well.  Mary Magdalene, in John 20 joyfully exclaimed, "I have seen the Lord."  The Lord has risen. and multitudes will be celebrating this all over the world over the next several days.  He is risen, is the victory cry of the church.  The tomb is empty, and death has been defeated.  This is fact, but I have a question for each of us; is this fact an historical one for us, or an experiential reality?

    I listened to a friend tell of what tradition says the words believers used to greet one another in the early church.  The first would exclaim, "He is risen!," and the other would respond, "He is risen indeed!."  The first  proclaimed a truth he believed, the second was saying that he not only believed that reality, but that it was a reality that found place not only in his mind, but his heart, soul, spirit and life as well.  Like the two on the Emmaus Road, they not only believed the report, they had experienced its truth themselves.  They, like Mary, had seen Jesus.  As the classic song by Sandy Patti and Larnelle Harris sings out, "And nothing will ever be the same again."

   What and who is the risen Christ to you and I today?  Is it a fact, a truth that we agree with and believe in?  It's wonderful if it is, but has that truth penetrated into the very fiber of our being?  Has the resurrected Christ truly given us resurrected life?  Has the power that conquered the grave, truly conquered us?  Do we live in the power of a resurrected life, willingly entering into His sufferings, and finding there, a source of strength and power sufficient to overcome all the power of death in every form it takes?  Or, has our knowledge stopped with our agreement with that truth?  If you are among those who will gather in various fellowships across the lands, will you, after singing the songs, speaking your praise, and listening to the message of truth, leave that time, walking in the power of a resurrected life, meeting every challenge, no matter how intense, and how painful, with not only the fact of that life, but the reality as well?  Or, will you, after leaving, step back into a life that though it knows the truth that He is risen, continues to live as though He were still in the tomb?  May we truly come to know the life that enables us to greet one another with those words, not just on Resurrection Sunday, but each and every day, "The Lord is risen!, Yes, the Lord is risen indeed..within me."  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Blessings,
Pastor O

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