Read John 19: 28 - 42
And Jesus gives up His spirit. It is not taken from Him. He is not a victim. He is a willing sacrifice.
Jesus says, "It is finished", and I used to think that it was a resigned sigh and statement that His physical life was over and He knew it. It happens often when people are near death. My family experienced that phenomenon with my own grandmother. She had spent her entire life as a seamstress ... supporting eight children on her own ... a lifetime of sewing and pleating, of gathering and stitching. In her last days she would unconsciously pick up the edge of the sheet covering her and her fingers would begin to pleat that fabric. When a section was "pleated" and her hands could hold no more, she would straighten it out and begin again ... constantly pleating, straightening, pleating. Finally came the day when she straightened out her pleated work, laid the sheet edge down, and said, "I'm finished". Not many hours later she breathed her last on this earth.
Because of that experience, I think I have viewed Jesus' words through that lens. And I think I have been totally wrong! This was no resigned finality. This was a shout of victory ... with the last breath that His abused and tormented body carried. It was finished! The plan for the redemption of man was completed - done. The debt for sin that you and I, indeed all of mankind, owed was paid. Books closed. Justice satisfied.
We learn in Matthew 26:39 that Jesus had prayed to His Father that there be some other way for this particular task to be accomplished. He knew the importance of the task. He knew that there was no hope for man/woman unless this astronomical debt be settled. But, surely there was some other way to do it. And the answer was ... no ... this is the only path. So Jesus set His head and heart and body to the task.
Have you ever dreaded doing something that had to be done? And our "dreaded things" pale to nothingness in the light of this thing facing Jesus. Do you remember how it felt when you faithfully completed the task? If you can relate to those kind of feelings at all ... I think you may have a glimpse into these words from Jesus on the cross.
"IT IS FINISHED" ... a cry of victory ... a dreaded task fulfilled ... done ...
You do know that the task He completed that day was for you, don't you? It was love for you that gave Him the desire and the strength to face the dreaded road in front of Him. If - or should I say when - you feel unloved and unwanted - when you feel undesirable and alone - hear again that shout of victory. Look again at the cross and the cost. See His eyes ... they are looking at you.
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