Final Words From The Cross: It is finished, Christ Church Sermon, April 13, 2025

today's scripture reading is from the

New Testament the Gospel of John chapter

John 19:30

19 verse 30 please hear these words from

the Gospel of

John when he had received the drink

Jesus said "It is finished." With that

he bowed his head and gave up his

spirit hear what the spirit is saying to

the church thanks be to God

thanks

Mark so today's message poses a little

bit of a dilemma this weekend as Mark

just already touched on and as you saw

when the children came forward waving

their palms I didn't see a lot of you

waving your palms by the way you have

another chance at the end of the service

during the final hymn thank you somebody

in the back's waving it fervently right

now you have another chance to wave them

but as we commemorated at the beginning

of the service today is Palm Sunday and

this is the day that we remember Jesus's

triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the

back of a donkey and people on that day

were waving palms all around and

joyfully singing Jesus's praises they

laid their coats on the ground in

preparation for his coming the mood the

vibe was a party it was a celebration

yet today is also the day here at Christ

Church that we are wrapping up our

sermon series on the final words that

Jesus spoke from the cross and so that

is obviously a much more somber tone

today's scripture focuses on three

simple words it is

finished they told the world that

Jesus's mission was complete

back in 1992 the United Methodist Church

formally branded Palm Sunday as

Passion/Palm Sunday and that was

following a move that the Catholic

Church had done decades earlier the they

do that or they did that to honor this

shared commemoration of Palm Sunday and

passion which comes from the Latin word

suffering and how we have Palm Sunday

and then later in the same day we start

that journey to Holy Week the beginning

of Jesus's beginning of the end of

Jesus's life on earth and it's a time to

turn our attention now to the cross so

that's what we do right now we turn our

attention from the palms that are waving

in celebration to the passion that's

lived out on those two beams of wood and

the declaration of it is finished is

much more than just a marker for the end

of Jesus's earthly life those words hold

incredible meaning that reveal both the

Jesus's purpose and the depth of our

savior's love for

us the first thing to understand about

it is finished is that Jesus was not

saying those words to indicate that what

he was experiencing on the cross was too

much for him to bear and he was just

giving

up it is finished is a fulfillment of

prophecies

although it was torturous Jesus's death

was not a surprise to him he knew that

this was the way he had to die there are

at least 12 references in the Gospels

where Jesus talked to the disciples

about his death he knew it had to happen

and he knew it was why he was here in

addition to what was said in the Gospels

there are also the prophecies that are

laced all throughout the Old Testament

and when you read them their imagery is

clear and the references obviously point

to Jesus as the fulfillment of those

prophecies i want to talk about two of

them for you this morning the first is

regarding Passover passover is a Jewish

holiday which commemorates the Jews

successful exodus from slavery in Egypt

in an effort to convince the Pharaoh to

let the Israelites go God had sent 10

plagues to Egypt the 10th plague was the

most insidious it involved the angel of

death visiting Egyptian homes and

killing every firstborn

child however as a way to escape a visit

from the angel of death the Israelites

marked their doors with a swash of

sacrificial lamb's blood on the

doorframe and those houses that were

marked were passed over by that angel

because he assumed that death had

already visited that house hence the

name passed over passover a lamb was

sacrificed so that people could be saved

as a way of remembering that passing

over every year Jewish people would

sacrifice lambs and of note about this

particular sacrifice is that they would

kill the lamb in such a way that none of

its bones would be

broken one of the names for Jesus of

course is lamb of God in John 1 29 the

disciple John greets Jesus by saying

"Look the lamb of God who takes away the

sins of the world." And John called him

that because of Jesus's connection with

the Passover lamb jesus actually died

during the celebration of Passover as

the lambs were being slaughtered for the

celebration and just like the one lamb

who had been sacrificed at the first

Passover one lamb who died to save

people Jesus died as a sacrifice so that

we all could be

saved when Jesus was on the cross

alongside the two criminals the soldiers

who were standing guard at the feet of

the at the foot of the cross decided to

speed up the dying process for the men

who hung there and in order to do that

they broke the they would break the legs

of the people hanging on the cross and

what that did is it forced all of their

body weight on their lungs because now

their legs couldn't hold them up any

longer so in this process of trying to

speed it up the soldiers broke the legs

of the criminal on Jesus's left and the

criminal on his right but when they got

to Jesus Jesus had already died and so

his bones were left

intact just like the sacrificial

lamb in his greeting Jesus as the lamb

of God John was predicting that Jesus

would be sacrificed as God's lamb so

that death can pass over all of us

the second example of Jesus as the

fulfillment of prophecy is perhaps one

that we are more familiar with here at

Christ Church because if you have come

in the past to the Good Friday service

or you plan on coming this Friday at

8:00 you have heard it and you will hear

it again it is from Isaiah 53 we do it

every year i want to draw your attention

to just a few of the verses from that

book and from that chapter isaiah 53:4

Isaiah 53:4

says "Surely he took up our pain and he

bore our suffering yet we considered him

punished by God stricken by him and

afflicted jesus was on the cross for our

sakes and because of what we all did he

took on the pain and suffering that

should have been ours and then when he

did not save himself those in the crowd

and remember from past sermons how we

have talked about through the mysteries

of time we are all in that crowd the

crowd believed God was punishing

him isaiah 53:5 says "But he was pierced

Isaiah 53:5

for our transgressions he was crushed

for our iniquities the punishment that

brought us peace was on him and by his

wounds we all are

healed we talked a couple of weeks ago

in a different sermon about the

brutality of Jesus's death and how we

cannot shy away from that brutality if

we want to understand the lengths that

Jesus was willing to go and the

suffering that Jesus was willing to

endure for us here the prophet Isaiah

actually foretells that Jesus's side was

going to be pierced by the sword he says

that Jesus was being crushed for our

iniquities or for our sin and crushed as

I just mentioned is an effective and

very accurate word to describe what was

happening to Jesus's lungs as he hung on

the cross those wounds along with the

ones in his hands and in his feet are

the ones that healed us and gave us life

finally in the eth verse of Isaiah 53 it

says this by oppression and judgment he

was taken away for the transgression of

my

people he was punished he was cut off

from from the land of the

living the word oppression in the

original Hebrew actually means

imprisonment or arrest so it should read

by arrest and judgment he was taken away

so there it is exactly as it was

foretold jesus was arrested jesus was

taken away and no one protested he was

killed cut off from the land of the

living having been punished to the point

of death for our

transgressions by saying "It is

finished," Jesus was simply

acknowledging that his life was coming

to an end in order to fulfill the

prophecies that had been foretold of him

so those three words are the fulfillment

or the fruition of those prophecies

throughout history to that point but

there is even more depth to those words

when we consider the spirit that went

along with them remember the scripture

that was just read for you right after

Jesus speaks those words it is finished

scripture says this with that he bowed

his head and gave up his spirit

if we're quickly reading through that

portion of the verse and we hear the

words gave up his spirit we might think

that that was also something that was

done out of defeat that Jesus just gave

up but that's not what John meant when

he penned those words there is no sense

of defeat when you understand how Jesus

came to be on that cross instead it is a

cry of victory

as hard as it is for us to comprehend

Jesus was there willingly it was his

choice we may be tempted to look at the

garden of Gethsemane and what happened

there and say that Jesus argued with God

about what was going to happen that he

didn't really want to go remember in

that garden between the last supper and

when he was arrested Jesus prayed

fervently to God that this cup would

pass from him meaning he would not have

to endure what he knew he was about to

endure in Matthew 26:39 we read that

Matthew 26:39

lying prostrate on the ground Jesus

prayed "My father if it is possible may

this cup be taken from me." In other

words may this responsibility be taken

from me don't stop reading there because

the next sentence after that was a

humble acknowledgment of what was to

come next yet not as I will but as you

will meaning as the will of

God i don't think that this prayer is

Jesus trying to get out of what was to

come i think that what we see in this

moment is a very human Jesus having a

very human moment with his father asking

if there is any other way that what

needs to happen can

happen although obviously on a much

different scale most of us have tried to

get out of something we didn't want to

do that would be hard or painful for us

to do as well and so we in some small

way can understand Jesus's moment of

humanity considering what he was about

to

face and when Jesus prayed a second time

in that garden this is what he said my

father if it is not possible for this

cup to be taken away unless I drink it

may your will be

done in the end Jesus gave up his spirit

willingly consider what we know about

what happens after he prays that prayer

in the garden of Gethsemane judas

betrayed Jesus and gave him up to the

authorities and Jesus went willingly

with those authorities who had come to

arrest him and then the authorities gave

up Jesus to Pilate and Jesus willingly

goes with Pilate to stand before the

crowd to be mocked and then Pilate gave

up Jesus to the crowd to be crucified

and Jesus went

willingly once the plan was in motion he

never tried to stop it it was all done

of his own accord of his own accord

jesus gave up his life and his spirit

for us one life in exchange for all of

ours but there is one difference between

all of the times that Jesus was given up

and when he himself gave up his spirit

when Jesus was given up by others it was

for evil purposes think back judas

betrayed him for 30 silver coins the

authorities wanted him gone so he would

stop challenging their domination of

religion and spiritual matters pilate

didn't necessarily agree that Jesus's

crimes were worthy of execution but in

the end he gave up Jesus because he

didn't have the courage to stop it and

he handed him over to a mob knowing

exactly what they would do to

him but when Jesus gave up his spirit he

gave it up out of pure love

he did it as the antithetical answer to

the malicious ways that he himself was

given up he did it willingly so that

love would win out over hate and over

vitrial love would get the final

say finally it is finished is perhaps

the simplest most poignant and most

beautiful love letter that we as Jesus's

followers will ever receive

anyone who knows me that knows if

something can be said in a hundred words

I'm going to take a thousand and if you

can say in a thousand I'm going to take

10 thousand i like to use all of the

words to describe exactly what I am

thinking and feeling in the most

articulate way to leave no room for

interpretation jesus needed only three

words

and I believe when Jesus is saying in

those three words in it is

finished in those words Jesus is

professing his undying and his

allencompassing love for each one of

us i believe that in those words Jesus

is saying to all of us rest assured my

beloved i have fulfilled my promise i

love you so much that I have voluntarily

done for you what you could not do for

yourself i have taken away your sins and

I have bridged the gap between you and

God

forever i am freely giving you your

salvation now you can rest fully and

completely in the grace of God

i have suffered and died so that you can

break free and live and not just live

but live

abundantly all of that and so much more

wrapped up in these three little words

spoken at the end of our Savior's life

standing as a testament to who he was

even in death his last words weren't

ones of regret or ones of anger but they

were of peace and

completion even in suffering and death

we see Christ's heart full of obedience

and love up to the very

end to tell us is the Greek word which

is translated into it is finished it

comes from the root verb tilio which

means to bring to an end to complete or

to accomplish according to the

commentaries I read there is

archaeological evidence that has been

uncovered showing that the word tatelsty

was written on bills or records from the

time of Jesus's life and what it meant

when they wrote to Telsty on top of

these bills is that those bills had been

paid in full all obligations had been

met to

telly it is finished the bill for our

lives was indeed completely paid for in

full by Jesus we owe

nothing well-known theologian Willon

once noted that when Jesus used the word

finished he thought it was similar to

what Michelangelo might have said when

he was done painting the cyine chapel it

is finished meaning a work of astounding

beauty and wonder a masterpiece had been

completed it is the same with the

cross once Jesus passed away all of the

prophecies and predictions came to

fruition and out of the brutality and

the finality of that moment something

beautiful and wonderful and astounding a

masterpiece was completed

it was a masterpiece of love and of

grace and of

redemption it is

finished three extraordinary words

spoken for you and spoken for

me it is finished the fulfillment of a

prophecy the declaration of victory a

love

letter it is finished

love has won and we are forgiven and we

are

free thanks be to God for this

indescribable

gift let us

pray god sometimes there are no

words sometimes there are no words for

how much you have done for us for what

Jesus was willing to do for us on the

cross

and so we say thank

you we say thank you not just with our

words but with our lives and we pledge

here today to let those words it is

finished resonate differently resonate

into our souls so that they change us so

that we understand their meaning and

they help us to become more deeply

devoted followers of yours who are

determined to love and to offer grace in

the same way that we have been loved and

we have had grace given to us thank you

for what Jesus was willing to do on the

cross for us and it is in your name we

pray amen