It is Finished

The earthly ministry came to an end.  He did what He came to the world to do; show the love and grace of God to humanity.  Through Him, God revealed God’s very self to the world.  And in response, the world crucified Him.  Yes, the world and not just a few people.

We know the rest of the story, but for now, we are left with the words, “It is finished.” We are left with the death of Jesus and wonder what he meant by the small little phrase that he uttered on the cross.  What does it mean?  Perhaps it means that His purpose on earth was complete and in His death, the world would know that the Son of God finished what He came to earth to do.  Maybe the utterance of the Savior indicated that He had no more left to give.  This was it.  He had done all that He could do.  “It is finished.”

We know what it is like to complete something.  For some of us, our end of term projects are done, and we can regain the human race.  For others, it could mean the ending of a long struggle with medical issues that completely overwhelm us.  To say, “It is finished,” indicates that the treatment is done.  No more hospital visits in the foreseeable future. We move on to another part of our journey.

This, the darkest night of the soul, when our faith leaves us with more questions than answers, we come to remember the sacred moment of the death of Jesus.  Hope was gone and everything we knew now seemed upside down.  The air filled with a heaviness that seemed to hold everyone captive.  The Messiah died, and there was no expectation that he would come back.  All was lost.

Today in the city of Jerusalem, we take that long day’s journey into the night of our faith. We take on the very nature of loss and loneliness, remembering that the One, who delivered us now is dead.  And we must live with this reality.  Our souls are filled with sorrow as we try to make sense of all of this.  Praise be to our God, who till holds us, even while Divine tears are shed for His loss.  And for now, let us reflect on what it means to hear the words, “It is finished!”