It Is Finished Ephesians 1:15-20; John 19:28-30 Easter Sunday April 16, 2017 Rev. Dave Benedict

Transcription

1 It Is Finished Ephesians 1:15-20; John 19:28-30 Easter Sunday April 16, 2017 Rev. Dave Benedict It is finished. The last words of Jesus of Nazareth. John's gospel records a number of the last things Jesus said from the cross: He spoke to his mother and to John himself; He said, I thirst; and finally He said, It is finished. Then, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit to his Father in death. Jesus was 33 years old when he died; the prime of His life. He had been in public ministry only three years; the beginning of his productivity, not the end. When we think of leaders who died young, John Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr., for example, we think of all they could have accomplished had they lived. Thinkers, artists, composers, writers who died young, like Robert Louis Stevenson. So much unfulfilled potential. How much more could they have contributed to enriching mankind? Jesus was 33. It is finished, he said. What did he mean? And how can knowing the meaning of his last words deepen our understanding of Easter? How can it help us celebrate his resurrection? Let's see. It is finished. What have you understood those words to mean? Some people have thought them to be words of despair, or defeat. The lament of a dying man whose life ended badly. "It is finished. I set out to change the world, and it came to this. But John didn't intend us to understand them that way. These words were not muttered, or moaned, or wimpered. They were shouted out. IT IS FINISHED! It was a shout of victory, after which Jesus bowed his head and died. It is finished. Each word has something to tell us. Finished. Let's start here. John says the word Jesus shouted out was tetelestai. Tetelestai means "to bring to an end, to complete something." It means to accomplish a goal, to fulfill an assignment. It was the way of Jesus to use common, everyday words and to fill them with spiritual significance. That s how it was with tetelestai. People used this word every day as they went about their buisness. Servants said it to their masters when they had completed a task. It meant, "I'm done. I've done what you wanted me to do, the way you wanted me to do it."

2 Artists said it when they stepped back from their completed work. It meant, "It's done. It is completed. Nothing is left out. It turned out just as I imagined it would when I started." Priests said it when they finished offering a sacrifice. It meant, "It is perfect. It is without problem or blemish." Merchants said it when they received payment for a debt. It meant, "Paid in full." Archeologists have found mounds of canceled tax receipts, all stamped "tetelestai". "This debt has been paid." Jesus, hanging on the cross, knowing, scripture tells us, that all was now complete, shouted out, Tetelestai. It is finished. Can you imagine it? After all he'd been through; the distrust and hatred of the religious leaders, betrayal by a disciple, a phony trial, the crowds turning against him, the mocking, the deadly scourging, the crown of thorns and the contempt of the guards, desertion by his dearest friends, the agonizing trip to Calvary, the excruciating pain of crucifixion, and worst of all, the feeling of being forsaken by his Father as he bore the sins of all human history. This was an assignment given to him directly by His Father and freely accepted in love. But can you imagine it? It is no wonder He shouted out, IT IS FINISHED! "It is done, completed, perfectly accomplished, and it worked. The debt of sin has been paid in full." Finished. Now, let's talk about what "is" means. Is. It is finished. The Greek language is a study in economy and precision. Greek verbs start with a root word and a root meaning, and then, by adding prefixes and suffixes, marking letters, double prefixes and double suffixes, it packs each verb with meanings that might take a whole sentence to communicate in English. The fact is that Jesus shouted only one word just prior to his death. Tetelestai. And packed into that word is enough information that it takes three English words to translate it; and even then, we don't catch the full meaning. Tetelestai. We translate it "It is finished". It could also be translated "it has been finished", but most Greek scholars choose to go with "is" instead of "has been". The confusion comes from a Greek verb tense that doesn't exist in English, and so there is no adequate way to get the meaning, even with our word "is". Verbs communicate action. There are many kinds of action, like action that happened some time ago, so we need a past tense for our verbs. Past. Present. Future tense verbs. You know how this works.

3 Tetelestai is a verb tense we don t have in English. It communicates three kinds of action all at once. First, it communicates an action in progress. In this case, finishing. Correctly understood, finishing his work took Jesus an eternity. It is a work that began at the foundation of eternity, when God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit devised a plan to save mankind from a rebellion that hadn't yet taken place. Jesus was finishing His work when He left Heaven, an infinite deity, captured inside the womb of Mary, his incarnation; Jesus was finishing his work as He cried hungerly in the manger in Bethlehem at the Temple as a boy, at the workbench alongside Joseph as He grew. He was finishing His work during his public baptism, as he taught and healed and confronted in Judea, and as He suffered through his last hours. Finishing his work took Jesus an eternity. "Is" means our salvation wasn t a single event; it was an eternal process. Then, this Greek tense points to the moment of climactic action; the crucifixion. Every event of Christ's life led up to his crucifixion. He knew it was leading there. He told his disciples, but they couldn't grasp it. Cursed is the who hangs on a tree, scripture said, and on the cross, Jesus became cursed with the sin of mankind. The cross was the climax of Jesus life, in fact of human history. Because of what happened on the cross, God's battle against evil is finished! "Is" means the climactic action of an eternal process. The third action of this Greek tense continues on as a completed result; it lasts forever. The result of Christ's finished work did not just melt away, like a sandcastle under the first approaching wave. It stands forever. Completed, but still doing its work. For 1st century Jews and for 21st century Christians. It is finished. So that's what "is" means; an eteranl process, a dramatic climax, and a result that continues. That leaves us with "It". It is finished. What is finished? What is accomplished, fulfilled, completed? I am going to suggest three things; scripture is fulfilled, Christ's work is completed, and God's purpose is accomplished Scripture is fulfilled. John takes great care in his gospel to point out to us that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in Scripture, that each event of his life and ministry had been laid out in advance; not to tickle that part of our fancy that loves a fortune-teller. But to demonstrate to us that God has been working on our salvation for eternity.

4 His plan for our salvation was in place when He confronted Adam and Eve for their sin in the Garden. His plan weaves its way throughout Scripture. Not just the broad stroke, but the details, down to the last detail. Three times in chapter 19 alone, John says, "This happened in order to fulfill scripture"; the soldiers cast lots for his outer robe, fulfilling Psalm 22:18; Jesus said, I thirst, fulfilling Psalm 62: 21; and Jesus died before the soldiers could break his legs, as they did to hasten the deaths of the others that day, fulfilling Psalm 34:20. In all, over 300 promises and prophecies about the Messiah were fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus. Reaching back throughout eternity, God had a plan for our salvation. We glimpse bits and pieces of that plan throughout Scripture. At the cross, Jesus can say about that plan, "It is finished". God's promises have been kept. What else is finished? Christ's redemptive work is finished. He set out to redeem sinful human beings and He finished the job. He did not leave one sin unpaid for. Hebrews 10:12 tells us, for when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God. He sat down. In the Old Testament tabernacle, there were no chairs because the priest's work, offering sacrifices for sin, was never done. But Jesus Christ sat down in heaven because his work was finished. God's wrath against sin is appeased; the wages of sin have been paid. It is finished. His finished work leaves nothing for us to do. As Christians, we can still grow in grace, in wisdom, and in maturity, but we can never be more saved than we are right now. And if you are not a Christian? Don't be tempted to think there is something you can do to reach heaven. The great word of the Gospel is not "do". It is "done". Research has shown that many people, when asked the question, "Why should God allow you into heaven when you die?" will answer along these lines. "I've always tried to be a good person." Maybe that's how you feel. You've always tried to be a good person. It is wonderful to try and be a good person. But that won't win your way into God's heaven. Nothing will. Everything that can be done, has been done. It is finished. All you can do is to receive it. And finally, God's purpose is accomplished. For God was pleased, through Jesus Christ,...to reconcile to himself all things... by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

5 Sin shattered the purposes of God's creation. It launched a war of wills between the Creator and His creations. But, it then became God's purpose to restore peace to this hostile relationship, to reconcile men and women to himself, to heal them, and to receive them back into His family. Ephesians 2:17 tells us that Jesus came proclaiming the good news of peace with God to those who were near to Him and to those who were far away. Peace. We are trained to think of peace as the absence of war. And that is surely one way we can think of the peace Christ made for us. Human beings were at war with God, and Christ put an end to it. Or, we can think of peace as the absence of conflict, or hostility. This is different than out-and-out war, harder to measure. As we know, having lived through the numerous peace settlements in the Middle East these past 50 years, a peace treaty might end a period of bloodshed, but it rarely ends the hostility. It can simmer and seethe beneath the surface and erupt into battle at any moment. Our definition of peace must include an end to hostility, because that was God s purpose in sending His Son. The hostility between human beings and their God would be over. But when the Bible talks about peace between human beings and God, it means more than the absence of war or even the end of hostility. Peace is what results from reconciliation, from being restored to a full relationship with God. Frederick Buechner said, "For Jesus, peace seems to have meant, not the absence of struggle, but the presence of love." And perfect love, the Bible tells us, casts out fear. Peace. Are you afraid of God? Are you afraid that He's going to get you for something you've done? Are you afraid He's going to ruin your life if you don't keep Him at a safe distance. Are there subjects you don't feel safe bringing up with Him; choices you want to make, sins you can't overcome, thoughts you can't control, sins that you cherish? Have you carved out a safe space in your life with God and walled off the rest? If you're afraid of God, then the relationship you have with Him is really a truce, a way to keep God at a safe distance; this is not the peace that Jesus made for you on the cross. Perfect love, the love of God in Jesus replaces fear with peace. Jesus said, "It is finished". With that He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Mission accomplished. Jesus mission was accomplished. Death had done it s work.

6 But there was one more thing to be done, and it could only be accomplished by The Father. Resurrection. It was necessary for Jesus to die. We ve seen that. But it was also necessary for Him to be resurrected. Resurrection overcomes death. Resurrection transforms death. Resurrection makes eternal life possible. This, too, is part of God s eternal plan and purpose. Jesus shouted Tetelestai It Is Finished when His mission had been completed, shouted it! I like to imagine God, the Father, shouting Tetelestai at the moment of Christ s Resurrection! Can you imagine it? Watching His obedient Son weeping in the garden, stripped and beaten in the courtyard, hung upon a cross. Watching and then unable to watch as His Beloved Son became the sum of all human sin, all of it. And then watching as His one and only Son died to accomplish Their eternal mission? Can you imagine the moment when God touched the lifeless body of Jesus, three days dead in the tomb, and life soared back into Him? Eternal life, victorious eternal life! Can you imagine the moment! It is Finished! He is risen. He is risen, indeed! And now the only questions that remain rest with us. Will we accept the finished work of Christ on our behalf? And will we live the resurrection life His resurrection provides for us? Both choices are ours alone. Our God has done His part.