When
Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he
bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
When
it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors
of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the
Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with
you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to
them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I
send you.’
Finished is a fascinating word.
It can be a word expressing success. I have finished my paper! I
finished the race! It can be a word expressing defeat. It’s
finished, over, and my last hope is gone. People have applied both
of these usages to Jesus’ last, dying words on the cross, “It is
finished.” Some people have assumed he was admitting defeat. My
time here is finished and I have failed to change the world. Other
have taken it as a statement of victory. I have finished what I
needed to do and God has won. Those standing at the cross watching
him die would probably have assumed that it was the former, an
admission of defeat, for what else could crucifixion mean?
This morning, this Easter
morning, we know which meaning to choose: victory. We know that
Jesus’ words were not those of defeat but of victory over sin and
death. We know that because God raised him from the dead, the power
of sin and death was broken. His resurrection was the victorious
news that the old world ruled by powers and principalities was
finished and a new world ruled by the risen Christ was coming into
being.
So on this Easter morning as we
hear the proclamation of Jesus’ victory, let us hear “finished”
as not an end but a beginning; a beginning of our work for this
wonderful new world that Jesus is bringing into being.
Loving
God, thank you for raising Jesus from the dead so that what his
finish is our beginning; the beginning of life here and life forever.
Dr.
John Judson
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