John 19:28-30
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” Today now, we have the fourth account by the Gospel writers of Jesus’ death, this time by the apostle John who had stood there watching. It’s a very short account and a very short phrase sticks out for me: It is finished. (v. 30) I know I’m covering ground here already plowed by hundreds, even thousands of preachers and commentators before me, but one wonders, “What is ‘it’”? It would be obvious for Jesus to be referring to His own life – finished. But probably the more popular reflection is that Jesus is referring to His complete and final obedience to the plan that the Holy Trinity had set forth before Jesus was even born, that His completely innocent death would suffice to cover the sins of all mankind for all time. And now, that plan was accomplished: It is finished.
So we can say, yes, the plan was accomplished. As our Jesus Storybook Bible would put it, Jesus has rescued all humanity. But my immediate reflection goes back to what we’ve been saying the past few days, back to Jesus refusing the drink that He was offered as He was being nailed to the cross (Matthew 27:34, Mark 15:23). If He refused the drink because He chose to be fully aware of His suffering as He went through the complete agony of His full and final deliverance of all mankind from all sin, then He continued that desire completely, up to and including His final breath. Suffering through six hours of intense pain and completely aware of it all, never losing consciousness up to that final deliverance…! That’s more than I can imagine – and more than I can fully appreciate, no matter how hard I try. That’s LOVE – all caps, bold, italicized – love at a level that we can never comprehend. But Jesus doesn’t ask us to understand all that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit had put together millennia ago, only that we accept that love, His substitutionary death on our behalf. GLORY!
Slava Bohu!