"It is Finished" Words of Profundity from the Cross

Listen intently to any of the last seven words Jesus spoke as He hung high and dying, just for you and me, and ponder the real love Jesus has for us. 

“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani”…….  (Mt & Mk).

Father forgive them…(Lk) 

Amen, today you will be with me in Paradise:(Lk)

Father into your hands I commend my spirit (Lk)

Woman behold you son, Son behold your mother (Jn)

I thirst (Jn)

It is finished (Jn)

Any one of these can be used to exemplify the complete Passion Jesus suffered that Good Friday on Golgotha; a suffering that we relive each time the Holy Mass is celebrated.  

When an author writes a story, the arousing conclusion is usually not revealed until the last chapter or sentence, holding the reader’s interest to the final stroke of the pen.  We know that in order to reach that finality many events, statements, or sometimes cataclysmic surprises occur, whetting our appetite for something that holds our desire for what is hoped will stir the sense of surprise, sadness, or a manifestation of glorious expectations.

I have attempted to put a fast-forward history of the reason for the Incarnation through the Resurrection, beginning with Genesis and ending with the death of Jesus on the Cross.  ,

“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss.”   (Gen. 1: 1). 

“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God……What came to be through Him was life and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  (Jn. 1: 3a - 4). 

“Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me…” (Elijah). ( Mal , 3: 1)   “A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”  (Mt 3:)

After Jesus had been baptized a voice from the heavens said; “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  (Lk 3: 22).

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst”……… “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.”  “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”  (Jn. 6:35, 39-40).

As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth.  “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?”  Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; this is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”  “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  (Jn. 9: 1, 3, 5).

“Take away the stone……did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”  “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.  So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”  (Lk 11: 39, 40, 43-44).  

The king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father.”  “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  “For I was hungry, naked, alone and ill and you cared for me.”  “They will say when did we see you and care for you?”  He said, “any time you did for these least of my brothers, you did it for me.”   (Mt. 25: 35, 38). 

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them on a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them; and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.  ……then from a cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  (Mt. 17: 1,-3, 5a). 

Following the meal at the Last Supper, Jesus took a towel and wrapped it around his waist and began washing the disciples feet.  Following the washing Jesus said; “Do you realize what I have done for you?”  “You call me teacher and master and rightly so, for indeed I am.”  If I therefore, the master and teacher has washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.”  “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”  “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than the one who sent him.”  (Jn 13: 12 - 16).

Jesus appeared before Annas, the high priest, and answered him saying; “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?”  “My kingdom does not belong to this world.  If my kingdom did belong to this world my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.  But, as it is, my kingdom is not here.”  (Jn 18: 23, 36).

“Here is my Servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit;  he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.  A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.”  (Is. 42 1-4 - the First Suffering Servant Song).

“You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above.”  “For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”  (Jn. 19: 11).

“See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.  Even as many were amazed at him so marred was his look beyond that of mortals, so shall he startle many nations.”  “Yet, it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured.  While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.”  “But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins.”  “Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.  We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all.”  The fourth Suffering Servant Song.  (Is. 52: 13 - 15, 53: 4 - 6).

On the cross Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished, and he gave up his spirit.  Here the final chapter was penned and the book was closed on His Mission to redeem us and save our souls from eternal death.  (Jn. 19: 30).

Author’s note: regarding the term “It is Finished” is not to negate the fact that there is not, and can never be, a separation of this one event of the Death/Resurrection of Jesus.  Theologically, if we teach or adhere to this as two separate events we are teaching heresy.

RBH 2018