St John Gospel, chapter 19, verses 28-30:
Jesus knew that he had now finished his work. And in order to make the Scriptures come true, he said, "I am thirsty!" A jar of cheap wine was there. Someone then soaked a sponge with the wine and held it up to Jesus' mouth on the stem of a hyssop plant. After Jesus drank the wine, he said, "Everything is done!" He bowed his head and died.
It was three o’clock. Jesus called for
water. He could hardly speak. A soldier fixed a sponge on a spear and held it
up to his lips. It was terribly bitter but it was enough. He strained to raise
his head and look up to heaven. "It is finished," he cried and then he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit.
At the time, the moment was filled with too
much emotion for those words to sink in and to ponder what they meant. But
later as the early Christians read John’s Gospel and heard again those words,
it dawned on them just how powerful these dying words of Jesus were. John wrote
his Gospel in Greek, and those last words of Jesus are just one word in Greek –
tetelestai
(pronounced te-tel-es-sty).
The expression "It is finished" or tetelestai was well known to
them. It was a part of everyday language.
When a servant had completed a difficult job
that his master had given him to do, he would say to the master – tetelestai - "I have overcome all
the difficulties; I have done the job to the best of my ability. It is
finished".
When the Jewish people went to the temple
with their sacrifice, the High Priest would examine what was brought. Most
likely, he didn’t speak Greek but he would use the Hebrew equivalent of
tetelestai – meaning, "Your offering is accepted; it is perfect".
When the merchant at the market place made a
sale and the money was handed over, he would say, "tetelestai – the deal
is finished, complete. The price has been paid in full. I am satisfied".
When an artist had finished a painting or a
sculpture he would stand back and say, tetelestai – it is finished; there is
nothing more that can be done to make this piece of art any better. This
painting is complete.
When a boy recited to his father a difficult
passage he had learnt from the Scriptures or a girl showed her mother the bread
she had baked for the family, they would say tetelestai and the parents
responded with, "Well
done, my child, I am very proud of you."
When Jesus spoke those final words he wasn’t
just saying, "This
is the end of me" as if there was nothing else to do but to give in to his enemies and
die. His last words weren’t a final surrender to the power of Satan as if to
say, "You
have won. I’m done for". These words don’t tell us that Jesus was dead
now and that’s all there is to it. He is finished and so is everything that he
stood for and promised during his earthly life.
Literally translated the word tetelestai
means, “It is finished.” The word occurs in John 19:28 and 19:30 and these are
the only two places in the New Testament where it occurs. In 19:28 it is
translated, “After
this, when Jesus knew that all things were now completed, in order that the
scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’”
Two verses later, he utters the word himself:
“Then
when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit.”
The word tetelestai was also written on
business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a
bill had been paid in full. The Greek-English lexicon by Moulton and Milligan
says this:
“Receipts are often introduced by the phrase
[sic] tetelestai, usually written in an abbreviated manner...” (p. 630). The
connection between receipts and what Christ accomplished would have been quite
clear to John’s Greek-speaking readership; it would be unmistakable that Jesus
Christ had died to pay for their sins. All those who heard the word tetelestai
– the servants, those who offered sacrifices at the temple, the buyers and sellers
at the market place, the artists and parents and children understood that Jesus
is saying that his job of saving the world has been completed.
He has finished the task and nothing can be
added to what has been done.
Jesus has paid the price in full – he has
cancelled all debt.
His sacrifice has been a perfect one,
acceptable to the heavenly Father who, looking down on his Son hanging
lifelessly from the cross, said, "Well done, this is my dear Son
with whom I am well pleased".
Tetelestai – it is finished. Everything is
complete!
What is it that is finished when Jesus says,
"It
is finished"?
Reconciliation is finished. The word
‘reconciliation’ has been used a lot in connection with the relationship
between the aboriginal people of our country and the rest of the community. The
terrible things that happened in the past have caused a rift between black and
white people. Efforts have been made to heal the differences, to close the gap
caused by past actions, to restore friendship, to be reconciled.
A terrible gap has come between God and all
humanity caused by sin and evil. Our offences, our disobedience, the hurt we
have caused God and others have destroyed our relationship with God.
Recall a time when you have done something
that has hurt someone else and because of that your friendship with that person
has been damaged, a gap has come between you, and you felt uneasy when you met
that person, in fact you may have avoided that person. All of that doesn’t
change until you put aside your differences and friendship is restored.
In the movie Grand Canyon, a tow truck
driver is threatened by five troublemakers as he attempts to rescue a terrified
motorist. He says, "Man,
the world ain’t supposed to work like this. Maybe you don’t know that, but this
ain’t the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to be able to do my job without
askin’ if I can. And that dude is supposed to able to wait with his car without
you rippin’ him off. Everything’s supposed to be different than what it is
here."
And he’s right. Everything’s supposed to be
different. God created a perfect beautiful world and he made people to live in
harmony and peace with one another. But look what’s happened. We all know what
an effect our poorly chosen words and lack of consideration have on our
relationship with family members and friends.
Greed and selfishness destroy friendship and
separate people and nations. That tow truck driver hit the nail on the head
when he said - "Man,
the world ain’t supposed to work like this".
Sin has a devastating effect on our
relationship with God. Sin separates us from God and if we want to have any
hope of going to heaven to be with God, then someone had to deal with sin and
restore our relationship with God. So God sent his Son into the world for this
very purpose.
Jesus died on the cross to get rid of the
power of sin to condemn us. His death bridged the deep gulf between God and us. "Salvation is
finished", Jesus
cried. The restoration of the friendship between God and humanity has been
finished. The task for which God's Son came to earth has been completed.
He has won forgiveness for all people.
Nothing else needs to be done.
Salvation is complete. "It is finished".
The cross is proof of the powerful love that
God has for each of us. No one, not even God, would do something like that
unless he truly loved us. Here we see a love that was prepared to endure the
ultimate in order to rescue us.
We have known love to do some very powerful
and strange things. A teenager Arthur Hinkley lifted a farm tractor with his
bare hands. He wasn’t a weight lifter, but his best friend, eighteen-year-old
Lloyd, was pinned under a tractor. Arthur heard Lloyd screaming for help and
Arthur somehow lifted the tractor enough for Lloyd to wriggle out. His love for
his best friend somehow enabled him to do what would normally be impossible.
There is the story of a priest who offered
his life in place of a teenage boy in Nazi Germany. His offer was accepted and
the priest died to save the boy’s life.
And then there was the young soldier who had
been condemned to death by Oliver Cromwell. He was to be shot at the ringing of
the curfew bell. His fiancée climbed the bell tower and tied herself to the
clapper of the giant bell so that it would not ring. When the bell did not
ring, soldiers went to investigate and found the girl battered and bleeding
from being bashed against the sides of the bell. Cromwell was so impressed by
her love for the young man that he was pardoned.
Because of love, people do extraordinary
things for others. They give us a glimpse, a small glimpse, at the kind of love
that God has for us. God the Father sent his dearly loved Son into dangerous
territory. He allowed his Son to be treated cruelly.
He stood by and watched his innocent Son be
nailed to a cross and to hang there in agony. He could have rescued him and
cursed those who were treating him so brutally and maliciously. He allowed his
Son to carry the sin of all humanity and so become repulsive even to his own
Father.
I don’t think we can fully appreciate what
it meant for the Father to abandon the Son and let him died at the hands of
evil people. When Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you
forsaken me?" we
sense something of the terror of bearing the weight of the sin of all humanity.
God did all this for us. He did all this
because of his love for us.
St Paul writes, "God has shown us how
much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! …
We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his
Son." (Romans 5:8,10).
That’s how much God loves us – Jesus died
for us even though we don’t deserve it. His death has made us God's friends.
Jesus' announcement, "It is finished" is clear and simple. Jesus has
completed his task. The reason why he came as a human has been fulfilled. He
came so that you and I can have forgiveness and salvation. He came to give us
the victory. He came to ensure that we would enter his kingdom and live
forever.
I want you to do is close your eyes. For a
short while, I want you to think about what Jesus has done for you through his
death on the cross.
Visualise in your mind the suffering
Saviour. Think about the love that God has for you, and thank him. Ask God to
wrap you tightly in his love – forgiving you, watching over you, guiding you.
If you feel that Jesus and his love for you are not real for a large part of
your life, ask for his help.
We pray:
Loving God,
what you have done for us in Jesus’
death on the cross is far more than we deserve. His death has made us friends
with you again. His death has given us forgiveness and the hope of life
forever. Everything is complete. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Amen.