For Jesus the end has come. His death is now minutes away. Is this what he was born to do? Look at the description of his final minutes in John 19, verses 28-30,
“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
God the Son is dead. As he died, he said, “It is finished.” Much has been made of this statement by Jesus. On the purely physical level, it is just a statement of fact. His human life is done. He stops breathing, he ceases brain function. He is dead. But there are other levels of meaning here.
Jesus has fully and perfectly fulfilled the law of the Old Testament. That law was an agreement only between God and the nation of Israel, mediated first through Moses and then through the centuries by the Jewish priests and sacrificial system. Jesus has through his perfect life and sacrifice completed that system. It is finished.
Jesus, likewise has completed the mission for which he was sent. There is a phrase in evangelical Christianity that we sometimes hear at Christmas and Easter: “Jesus was born to die.” When he says, “It is finished,” we can think, “There, he said it, he affirms it, he was born to die. That was his purpose. He did it, he completed his purpose, and it is finished.” I disagree. This moment of his death is important, but it is far from the end of the story, as we will see next week. It is also far from the whole story, as we have seen for the previous 39 sermons in this series.
Jesus’ life should not be overshadowed by his death, as if his death is so significant that his death is all that matters. No. When Jesus says, “It is finished,” he is also indicated that his way of life has been completed. He is, in just three words, asking us to think back over those 33 years, and especially the previous three of his public ministry, and consider how he lived. He showed us the way of the Kingdom of God. He showed us the pathway of abundant life, of flourishing life that God desires for all people. Yes, that includes eternal life in heaven, but I think more importantly that includes abundant life now.
Jesus’ own abundant, flourishing life is finished. He successfully lived how he wants us to live.
A significant element of his life and death is a reminder to us that God has entered our world, experiencing all that we experience. Including suffering and death. One of the most difficult questions in our world is why God allows so much suffering. Rarely are we satisfied by what I consider to be empty responses like “God has a plan,” or “God is in control.” I don’t consider those to be helpful.
Instead, what I think is helpful is to look at Jesus on the cross, and there we see God who enters our world, encounters our suffering, our pain, and says, “I love you. I am with you.” Jesus on the cross saying, “It is finished,” doesn’t mean the suffering goes away. It means he is there, he is aware, he is for us, and his Spirit lives with us, in the middle of our suffering. It is evident as we look at the life of the Jesus that an abundant life does not mean a life without pain. Instead, abundant life is life with the knowledge of the deep love of God, of living in regular communion and communication with him.
Engaging Scripture 