28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so
that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 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. 30 When
he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed
his head and gave up his spirit.
Jesus'
sixth word on the cross marks the end of his ministerial work on earth.
This is the end. Not only that his life on earth is ending, but
also that one giant task is done. The greatest task ever in the history
of humankind. Jesus was carrying out his duty as the Messiah and the
Redeemer of the world. His coming has been proclaimed since the fall of
man and continuously proclaimed throughout history through God's prophets.
Now the time has come for him to say the conclusion. And his claim
was: "It is finished!" or in Greek: “Tetelestai!”
What
is finished? And why is his claim important? When we say it is
finished, sometimes we mean that our life has faced an unfavorable end. So we
say it is finished. I am finished. We are finished. Or
sometimes we mean that I am relieved it is finished, I can't bear it anymore.
Or sometimes what we mean is after a tremendous work, finally the work is
completed. This tetelestai is
the latter. It is like an athlete who finishes the greatest race in the
olympics, and he comes out the winner, exclaiming: tetelestai! An athlete works very hard for years to shape
his/her body in order to win in the Olympics. The discipline, the time,
the energy that an athlete puts in in order to be the champion is a lot.
Thus, when an athlete wins the race of the lifetime, he shouts "tetelestai!"
But
… Why is Jesus' tetelestai important?
He is not "winning" a race. He is dying. He is not
receiving the honor, he is receiving the wrath of both God and man. So
why Jesus' tetelestai is important?
This
is why. Since the fall of Adam in Eden, man has been doomed to eternal
death. They longed for a salvation, a redemption of their lost soul, but
found none. Some do whatever they want as God doesn't exist for them, whereas
in fact they are dead in front of God. Some cried out to God groaning in
pain. God pointed them to the coming Messiah in the future. And
they believed. So these people have been waiting for the Messiah, who
would redeem their lives, all their life. God prepared the coming of the
Messiah. He took Abraham and through him Israel was formed. Through
Israel, God sent out his prophets to prophesy about the redemptive plan of God
in the Messiah. Hundreds of years passed, then come Jesus. An
ordinary man from Galilee, doing all the jaw dropping miracles, calming the
storm, raising the dead, feeding the thousands, teaching in authority, and
proclaiming the fulfillment of God's promise of his salvation. Jesus went
through each and every one of the prophecy. The cross was also in the
prophecy. He had to go through it. Jesus was fully aware of his
trial, so he told his disciples four times about it. Jesus, the only man
on earth who never sinned, now had to be judged by sinful people, who wanted
him dead. The fact is, Jesus was looking forward to that event. He
had to. That's what God wanted. But the dread he felt was not the
earthly judgment. The heavenly judgment was the one that made him dropped
blood like sweat. But people did not understand. Even his own
disciples, those closest to him, did not understand. So he went to the
cross, alone.
Peter
did not want him to die, but Jesus called him Satan, and ordered him to get
behind him. The night Jesus was arrested, all left him, even though they
already vowed to stand by him until death. The religious leaders, those
who were supposed to know that all the prophecies of the Messiah pointing to
Jesus, accused him of blaspheming God. And so they condemned him to die.
They became the agents of the murder of the Messiah, rather than siding
with him and believing. So Jesus was handed over to the people who knew
nothing about the prophecies, who did not care about the existence of the
Messiah of God, and sent him to the cross.
One
day, Sophie, my 3 year old daughter asked me a question: “Papa, why did Jesus
die on the cross?” That question is not
an easy one to explain to a 3 year old.
I delayed answering her, because I had to spin my head to figure out how
to answer that question, THE question, to a 3 year old. She kept asking: “Papa, why did Jesus die on
the cross?” After awhile, I opened my
mouth to answer her. In a split second,
I was kind of hoping that she were 9 year old.
For a split second I thought it would be easier to explain my answer to
a 9 year old than to a 3 year old. To a
9 year old I could explain longer, deeper, and being understood better. But no, that’s just my wishful thinking. Sophie is 3 year old. She is not 9 year old. And so I answered her with the plainest
answer: “Jesus died on the cross because we sinned. He had to die on the cross to save us. Because he loved us very much. Because he loved you Sophie.” There I gave her the simplest answer I could
think about. And Sophie just stared at me.
She did not contest my answer. So
I felt relieved. Sophie then said:
“Jesus died on the cross because of me?”
I said to her: “Yes he did.
Sophie, I’d like to think like this when I think of Jesus on the
cross. That when he was on the cross he
thought of you. He remembered Sophie who
would be born 2000 years later. Jesus
remembered you Sophie, when he was dying on the cross. Because he loved you and he wanted to save
you.” “Oh,” Sophie replied.
Easter begins with the cross
narrative. Easter begins with the
suffering and death of Jesus Christ. All
of us at some point ask the same question Sophie asked: “Why did Jesus die on
the cross?” And the answer to that
question cannot be more complicated than my answer to Sophie. For that answer is the answer the Bible gives
us. It is not a fancy answer. But it is the truth. It is the simple truth. Jesus died on the cross to save us, because
he loved us.
But
then, we, who are more complicated than Sophie, ask further: “But why did Jesus
have to die on the cross?”
On
the cross, the very thing that made him in agony the night before, happened.
Thus the fourth words of the cross were uttered: Eli, Eli, lama azavtani?
The true death, the separation between him and God, he experienced.
The penalty of Adam's sin, which was passed on to all his descendants,
death, the true death, Jesus now must bear for the world. The very thing
he was, a savior, a redeemer, was being put to the test. People who were watching
him mocked him, even those crucified together with him mocked him. Jesus,
which means Savior, was left powerless on the cross. The powers and
authorities of the world crushed him, and God left him alone. He went
through hell. The mystery of the separation of God is never fathomed by
human mind. How could the eternal God, the giver of life, the source of all
goodness, the pattern of unity, the holy Trinity who are forever in perfect
love and shalom must now be broken up, and the Son must be left alone?
The separation was eternal in quality, for the persons are all eternal.
Our human mind can't comprehend. But this separation happened.
It was real. The sky went dark and in the midst of darkness, the
Son of God, Jesus the savior of the world, the Messiah, cried out the most
painful words of the cross: "Eli, Eli, lama azavtani? My God, My
God, why do you forsake me?" He went through hell.
Jesus
had to die on the cross and experienced hell for the salvation to be
effective. As Adam represented us and
brought in sin into our life, Jesus represented us and brought salvation and
eternal life to us. Jesus did not come
down from the cross even when the people shouted at him to come down from the
cross. He could. But he did not. He bore that hell for us. He bore that separation with the Father
because he loved us. I’d like to think
that when people shouted at him to come down from the cross, he focused his
mind on us. He remembered each one of us
and he remembered each of our names. In
the midst of his agony being left by the Father that prompted him to cry out:
“Eli, Eli, lama azavtani? My God, My
God, why do you forsake me?”, he remembered our names. It’s like, “Sophie is going to be born in
2009, I cannot go down, I have to save her, I have to bear this for her, for
she cannot bear it herself and live.”
Imagine Jesus remembering your name when he was dying on the cross, and
he held on, he bore for us what we won’t be able to bear, and the rewards of
eternal life and glory were then bestowed upon us. Easter began with that.
Jesus’
love is so great that he dies for us.
Let me tell you an ancient story about a great King of the Vikings. This story went back
to when Vikings were masters of the seas. A great king arose to lead the Vikings. He was
wise, strong, just and cared for his people. There came a time during his reign that someone
began stealing from the treasury. To put
this theft to a stop, the King made a decree throughout the nation that the
punishment for the thief would be ten lashes. Over time the King increased the punishment, twenty
lashes, thirty, forty, and finally fifty. After careful investigation, the thief was
caught and was brought to the court where the King presided. But to the surprise of the king, the thief was
his own mother! She was old. Estimating her endurance, she would not be
able to endure 50 lashes. In other
words, she would die in the process. Now
the King loved his mother very much. But,
he was also a just King who knew that justice must stand. The King was faced with a dilemma: would he
let his mother to go free or toughen his heart to let the lashes execute
justice and kill his aged mother? The people
were gathered and came to see what the King would do. The King ordered the court to tie his mother
to the tree—ready to receive the fifty lashes.
But before the first lash was
given, the king took off his own robe and crown, and then came to the
tree. He hugged his mother from behind
and ordered the fifty lashes to be executed. And when the fiftieth lash, the
last lash, was blown to his body, he said: “It is finished!” The king bore the punishment for his mother
on him. Justice stood that day and also
love! That story illustrates the love of
God for us, for you and me.
Then Jesus knew that all prophecies about him had
been fulfilled in him. All his duty, the very purpose of him coming to
the world has been completed. He bore for us the punishment of eternal
death, the separation with God for eternity.
So we might receive eternal life and glory. He completed the grand task assigned for him
since before the creation of the world.
So He shouted: "Tetelestai!
It is finished!" Through that word, Jesus proclaims to the entire
world, heaven and earth, that the greatest work is finished in him. The salvation, the redemption, is completed
in him. So, the proclamation is final. His work has ended.
The grand plan of God is now in full effect. The salvation of
humankind is a reality. All eyes are upon the cross. The groaning
of the world now has its comfort. Death has been destroyed, once and for
all eternity. Fear of death is no longer haunting God's people. For
God will never leave us alone. It is finished. Tetelestai. The sound of victory is finally heard, loud, once
and for all. ... We have a savior. Our life has been redeemed.
We are now at peace with God. Shalom reigns once again. Amen!
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