‘It is finished’
Day 685, Saturday, June 27
John 18:28 – Chapter 19
Last week, in chapter 6, we talked about the sense in which Jesus is, and is not, a king.
This same question dominates the end of chapter 18 and the beginning of chapter 19. The Jewish leaders want Jesus dead, and the surest path to execution in the empire was rebellion against Rome, so they report to Pilate that Jesus claims to be “King of the Jews.”
We usually consider their claim to be dishonest, and surely it was to some extent. Their duplicity is even clearer in 19:15 when the chief priests declare, “We have no king but Caesar;” this insistence on allegiance to a hated foreign occupier just doesn’t ring true. But there may have been some legitimate concern—while Jesus didn’t claim to be king in any political sense, his teaching and growing following could have presented a real risk of political violence. Their power depended on protecting the status quo.
For his part, Jesus faced his impending death with courage. When Pilate asked him, “Don’t you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” Jesus may have been bound and guarded, but his sacrifice was willing.
It is impossible for us to comprehend how devastating this must have looked to his followers at the time. We can’t un-see what we have seen of what happens next; we know this isn’t the end and that the resurrection will come and that defeat will be turned into victory. To his followers then, though, this had to look like defeat. His words to them about his return had been hard to understand and likely provided little consolation.”
In 19:28-30 we read, “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
We can’t be sure exactly what it was that was finished. His human life? His mission living on earth? His perfect sacrifice? Whatever he meant, it had been completed, not defeated. One of the most awesome chapters in God’s story was ending, with better things still to come.

Saturday meditation

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

Prayer focus
Show us our mission, Lord, and grant us the courage to follow it through to completion.

-Rev. Mark Fleming