He Is Risen...He Is Risen Indeed

I enjoy words. I really enjoy big words. For some reason, God gave me this aptitude to be fascinated by them. I enjoyed philosophy in college and theology in seminary and these two studies are packed with big words. But this doesn’t make me a great reader. I know, because I have a hard time reading small words. I will sometimes not see them and I will frequently transpose them with adjacent small words in a sentence. I think this reading mistake remains as a thorn in my flesh to keep me humble; I wish I could get past it, but Christ’s grace is sufficient for me.

I am often humbled in another area, though. If a propensity for reading mistakes didn’t bring me low enough as a preacher, I sometimes commit a nasty speaking mistake. For some reason, probably when I’m tired, my brain sometimes processes the two words ‘raise’ and ‘rise’ as interchangeable. They’re not interchangeable! Rise is an intransitive verb that cannot take an object; raise is a transitive verb and must have an object. Even so, I sometimes ask a congregation of God’s people to raise. I did this today. Perhaps, If I’d had the presence of mind to try to cover it, I might have said, ‘please raise …eh…your psalm books as you rise to sing…” I didn’t have that presence of mind today, thus the faux pas.

But I notice that it happened today on a day when another, well known and well accepted grammatical error may happen -- this time, to fill our hearts with joy. On this day, we rejoice to say to each other, “He is risen!.....He is risen indeed!” My grammar checker doesn’t like this phrase. I could speculate as to why that is, but I’d rather ask this, Why do we say “He is risen indeed” anyway? Where does this phrase come from?

There is only one place in the New Testament that records this phrase, ‘risen indeed.’ It’s found at Luke 24:34 in the English Bible (most translations). Here, we have two reborn, newly enlightened, open-eyed, burning-hearted witnesses of Christ’s resurrection running back to the disciples in Jerusalem to proclaim “He really rose!” Or, “He really is risen!”

I love the fact that the only thorough, soul-screeching joy I have ever had has come to me through the discovery of the risen Christ. I remember that skip home the same way I imagine those two returning to the disciples in Jerusalem – that fullness of joy. But even this is a foretaste of the joy to come in His presence.

That will be a day of boundless joy and fullness of energy that comes from God for the worshiping and enjoying of our Jesus. I’m pressing forward in great anticipation of the day when my worship will flow without any stammering and misspoken words. But until then, I’m so thankful for what He gives us to work with now, knowing that no labor for Him is ever in vain.