It Is Finished

(I apologize for being behind on the blog.  The last chemo set me back a bit.)

“When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’  Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”  --John 19: 30

I’m sure that many of you watched the 82^nd Annual Academy Awards last month.  Watching the Oscars has become as much about watching the grand entrance of the stars as it is seeing who wins the awards.  We’ve all watched on TV as the stars arrive for their walk up the red carpet. They step out of gleaming limousines, dressed in stupendously expensive evening gowns and tuxedoes.   There is glamour, jewelry, diamonds, red carpet, paparazzi, cameras, flashing lights. Everything about the night is designed to dazzle.

If it had been up to the disciples, that’s probably the way they would have had Jesus enter Jerusalem on that long ago day.  They had high hopes for Jesus, as did many other people in Israel.  Jesus had performed amazing miracles, and word about him had spread.  For hundreds of years, the people of Israel had been living under foreign rule, oppressed by strangers who had taken over the land.  The Romans were the occupiers at this point in history; the people of Israel lived under Roman law, paid taxes to Rome, saw the invaders prospering and enjoying the fruits of their labors.  The Roman army was an ever-present force, but the Israelites had no army, no military officers, no commanders, no king.  They longed for a king like the great king David, to come, to rally the people behind him, to gather a great army and drive the Romans from the land. 

And now, the one they were waiting for had arrived.  He taught with authority, he performed signs and wonders, and the masses of his followers were growing.  They wanted to get in on his parade.  Two million people were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  What better time could there be for the new leader to make his entrance into the Holy City and be acclaimed by the people who were ready to follow him to victory?

There were throngs of people everywhere.  There were huge crowds ahead of him, leading the way into the city.  There were more crowds behind him, following in great celebration.  And all along the way, the road was lined with people, pressing as close as they could, lifting children on their shoulders, trying to get a good look at this new leader, this Jesus, the one who would change everything for them.  They threw their cloaks into the road and waved palm branches, signs of their acclaim for this famous man.  And they shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

But not long after, these same people would be crying, “Crucify him!” and the journey that began with such promise, such triumph, such hope, would end with Jesus hanging on a cross, and with the word we hear this morning:  “It is finished.” 

Did Jesus word here mean defeat?  Was he saying, “It’s all over?”  After the going through the agony of the trial, the beatings, the mocking, the excruciating pain of the crucifixion, was Jesus ready to give up, to surrender, ready to succumb so that the pain would be over?

That is what we might think, when we read these words in our Bibles; because the English translation, “It is finished,” is rather ambiguous.  It is open to interpretation.  It might mean defeat, but it might mean something else.  How can we know for sure?

This is where it is so important to look at the original language, because while in English it is ambigious, it is not in Greek!  In Greek, the word is tetelestai, which means “accomplished,” “fulfilled,” “perfected.”

When a servant returned from completing the work of his master, he would say, “Tetelestai--It is finished.”

When a debt had been paid in full, it was stamped, “Tetelestai—It is finished.”

Our spiritual debt is great, so great that it would be burden too heavy for us to bear.  We could work and sweat and struggle and never pay it off.  But the good news is that we do not have to, because Jesus paid the debt for us.

Jesus’ word on the cross, “It is finished,” means it is finished for us.  In his sacrifice on the cross, he paid the price we could not pay.  Yet we human beings get stuck in thinking that we have to DO something to earn our salvation.  We are used to accomplishing things, aren’t we?  We want to be the ones to fix things for ourselves.

It takes a great deal of humility to let all that go and say, there is nothing that I can do.  I cannot save myself.  I simply have to rest in the promise of God, that “by grace we have been saved through faith, and this not of our own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2: 8-9).

In many ways, this is an unusual message, because preachers usually tell you to DO something. And yet to be true to this word from Jesus on the cross, I must say that when we hear this word, we should DO nothing.  We should simply open ourselves to receive this gift.

The good news in this passage is that Jesus did it all!  As the old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all!  All to him I owe.  Sin had a left a crimson stain; he washed it white as snow.”