When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:30).
It is finished. That says all we need to know, and yet if you don’t know what IT is, you don’t know the enormity of that statement.
The work of Jesus, not just on the cross but all it took to get to the cross, was a big job. A difficult job. A dirty job. A dangerous job.
For God, the Word, to become flesh and dwell, tabernacle among us is no small task. You can’t do that from a distance. You can’t accomplish that without getting your hands dirty and the rest of you too.
For Jesus to come as the bread of heaven and living water so that we are never hungry or thirsty again is no small thing. It’s impossible to relate unless he truly knows the pangs of hunger and parched feeling of thirst.
To make a way for everyone means the hard and unpopular work of tearing down barriers that leave so many people out. You don’t do that without getting your reputation dirtied and dragged through the mud in the process.
To come and offer life that is abundant and overflowing and full means to deal head on with all the things we get trapped in, addictions we get imprisoned by, hate and selfishness, greed and anger that takes root, sin that leaves us living as less than the full image of God in which we are all made. Sin that leaves us treating others as less the full the image of God in which they are made.
Getting to Easter means conquering death itself. And the way Jesus overcomes death is to go through death to come out on the other side.
It was hard work, but Jesus did the hard work. It’s already done. You don’t have to do it. It is finished.
Salvation work is complete. It’s not on you. It’s on Jesus. And it is finished.
Life that is really life. Life as it was created to be. Life to the full. That’s not in your power. It’s in God’s power. And it is finished.