IT IS FINISHED

 By Josephine Wang

John 19:16-42

Key verse 19:30

Approaching this message, there were already things that I wanted to do. The crucifixion message, one we all know is crucial to the Christian faith, is also a message that we are all familiar with. It’s also one that is very direct and perhaps self-evident. Because of this, I did not want to splay my arms across for you so that you can look at my arms and sort of conceive the importance of the cross, and the pain, and maybe Jesus. I wanted to skip that torture stuff, because…I heard it before and I felt that maybe the cross message was too sensational or sentimental, an emotional assault to guilt trip people or have them feel something. But Jesus never asked for empathy while suffering. He never asks us to pity him, poor Jesus, but know why he had to go through this.

Last semester, my grades were suffering and it was all because of my laziness. I couldn’t even deny this fact that my laziness resulted in my grades. That night before the report cards were out, I prayed to God and begged him, please, please, some miracle, Lord. But, simultaneously I knew that I deserved this. My grades were not the fault of cosmic forces. It was my stupid fault. My stupid sinful self. Then I thought, Josephine, you have the audacity to cry out to God for these petty things? Children are dying and begging God, please just one crumb and you, who has been showered with blessings, are begging for something so insignificant, so selfish. The grades, the numbers are JUST representations of your effort, and yet here I am, the night before! begging God. Even if I was deserving to pray to God this prayer, why the night before? It was such a desperate prayer, and so shallow. Because of these truths, during those two hours of prayer I cried out, “and Jesus? You died for this? Why did you die for me? I’m so worthless. Why did you die for these exact petty sins? Why did you kill your life for this stupid shallow me?” I had absolute self-loathing. Was this all I amounted to? But, this is what the Bible says: when the disciples asked how to pray, Jesus told them to say “Give us each day our daily bread”. And when the women wept for Jesus, he told them “Do not weep for me”. I never understood why. Did Jesus not see what was before him? What and who he was dying for? Now I understand, his crucifixion is not about sorrow.

PART I. This is the crucifixion story:

So, “finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified”. Despite his conviction of Jesus’ innocence, he gave into the feral cries of the crowd, their savagery that thirsted for the unreasonable killing of Jesus Christ. From the beginning, Jesus’ death is so apparently innocent, and the crowd’s anger so mindlessly passionate, yet, Jesus (verse 17) “carr[ied] his own cross, [as] he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha)”. As he was beaten down and made to carry his frightening device of torture and murder, Jesus was not only made less human, but he was made less valuable, less worthy, less beautiful, and less intelligent. There walks the blasphemous fool, carrying the burden of his stupidity. However, even in Jesus’ shame, God constantly reminds us of his intent. Thus, the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Skull, is appropriately a personification of death and as a fulfillment of prophecy Jesus was crucified alongside two others, criminals, trivializing Jesus’ efforts into pettiness, maximizing his humiliation.

                It’s kind of astonishing to look back on this scene of Jesus’ crucifixion. It feels so driven with such animalistic malice, largely due to the crowd’s ignorance. However, despite this, God was able to display his glory through the fulfillment of the scriptures, for a notice was (verse 19-22) “fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be the king of the Jews.” 22Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” Although previously, Pilot tried to repress the truth of Jesus’ identity, now that he is faced with the undeniable truth that Jesus will have to undergo unjustified torture, he stubbornly insists his decision because he always knew the truth. It was God’s intention that everyone know that it was not that “this man claimed to be the king of the Jews” but that Jesus is the “the King of the Jews”. Because he is, there is triumph in Jesus’ death. It was not a tragedy, a mockery of Jesus’ life, but a glorious testament of God’s presence.

                The fulfillment of scripture continues as soldiers took his clothes and said (verse 24) ²⁴ “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did.

So. Jesus was crucified in unjustified hate, was naked, and had the nerves in his wrists hackneyed. Despite his inability to fully inhale, he remembered his mother. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, (verse 26-27) “Here is your mother”. Jesus understood his mother’s heart, he knew that Mary would bury the agony of her children’s pain in her heart. To the end, he remembered and was filial, obedient to God in every commandment and prophecy. Hence, Jesus’ next statement, later, (verses 28-30)“knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty”. Jesus withheld his thirst, struggled to keep his consciousness, until it was God’s opportune and appointed time. Only with the fulfillment of all these things could Jesus say, “It is finished”. There is relief in this phrase that Jesus said with his dying breath. However, I do not believe that it was said in relief because he could finally escape the pain but because he was able to be victorious.

PART 2. It is finished

                The Bible keeps emphasizing that the scripture was fulfilled. This is further revealed when Jesus’ legs were not broken and when Jesus’ pierced side drew out blood and water. This fulfillment of scripture reveals that Jesus did indeed die. Thus, throughout this passage there is truth after truth, fulfillment after fulfillment. God made sure that every one of them was carried out, despite the ignorance of the people performing them, despite the pain that Jesus had to endure. In addition to this, John writes, (35-37) “the man who saw [the flow of blood and water] has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe”.  Jesus fulfilled these scriptures, one by one, so that you may also believe that all this was done to atone for our sins, just as God had promised, the scripture had promised, just as he had done. And, almost as a lyrical symbol of the retribution Jesus has brought us through his death, he was buried in a garden, the exact origin of man’s sin. There is life in the death of Jesus Christ. There is renewal in the death of Jesus Christ. Most importantly, throughout the death of Jesus Christ, during and in the death of Jesus Christ, God was always there.

                When I see the sin in my life, I feel so mediocre and worthless. I feel as though I am destined to be confined in my sin. I made too many mistakes, I am too much of a hypocrite. However, Jesus said, “It is finished.” Once I was able to accept Jesus’s declaration, I was also able to accept God to guide my life. Sin is oppressive: I wanted to die because of it and once I even blasphemed against God by saying, “kill me now”. But…Jesus already overcame it all and he comforts me.  [Sometimes I feel as though I am in a foreign place, whether it be in my own body or home. I have found my true home in the words of God. This is where I feel profound and where I feel safe. This is what I have found once coming to Jesus.]

Now, God is saying to you, over and over again: I planned this all. I did it all. Come to me. Even before Jesus uttered his final words, God said it over and over again. It is finished. It is finished. Our sins are very real. Our sins result in death. But, the scripture was fulfilled, it is finished. No more self-loathing, no more barriers, no more sin. Jesus did it all. Now, come to Jesus.