It Is Finished

“Woman, here is your son…”
“Here is your mother….”
“I am thirsty…”
“It is finished.”

Read: John 19.28-30

Death.

The very mention of the word stirs the souls of Chinese people. It is the “evil word”, the word the utterance of which evokes bad joo-joo. Before my dad passed away, our family never talked about him dying. We always said that things might “change”. As our grandfather approaches 80 years old, we never talk about him dying, but of “things that might happen.” Death indeed is scary. It means something is ending. Whether our efforts and labor were worth it becomes apparent the day we meet our maker. The scariest part is that you never know when it’s going to come.

When I was in high school, I was a part of our school’s NHS. Minnesota has a predominately Lutheran/Congregationalist population, so not surprisingly, our NHS has many committees. I was placed on the Casino Night committee where we organized a night of gambling to raise money for charity. No, it was not my idea. On the committee was Sara. She was an ordinary athletic person with well-combed shoulder-length hair who wore a simple sweater (it was in the middle of winter) and jeans. We talked about our physics teacher who was known for his dry humor. And then we went home. A few days later, she died in her sleep.

Most of you reading this have no idea of death, because you have not seen someone die in front of you. You think that death is at least 50+ years away. You have not been in a situation where the heart monitor of a loved one flatlines as you hold his or her hand. There’s nothing to make you realize that one day, you will face the same fate. The question is always the same: have you wasted your life?

Sometimes we think that a well-lived life means getting lots of stuff done. But that’s not true. Adolf Hitler got a lot of stuff done. And so did Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and other tyrants. But we would rather that they got nothing done! Sometimes, we go through life so fast that we just do stuff, do this, do that, all without thinking. And in the end, when we reflect on that stuff, we realize that all we’ve done so far is just stuff. No lives changed. No living well. Nothing done well. Nothing learned. Just stuff.

As you read the passage above, note the slowness of the reading. This is not a passage you can read in 10-15 seconds. It is a weighty passage, with every pace moving slowly because Jesus’ work is drawing to a close. Everything he did was in fulfillment of the Scriptures, in taking the Law and raising the bar so high that obeying it in its fullness can only be done through the Spirit, from the drinking of the sour wine to the hyssop plant (cf. the Passover in Exodus). It builds up to Jesus’ last words: “it is finished.”

So let us slow down in reflection. As we go approach Good Friday, let us slow down and take some time in reflecting on the Cross. Let this Holy Week not just be something you “do” just for the sake of “doing”, but something that reorients you towards Christ once again. And let this Holy Week touch upon all you do. May every part of your life, from homework to hanging out with friends to youth group to driving to whatnot be not just any other humdrum event, but an opportunity to live out well.

May we, the day death arrives at our doorstep, greet it with joy saying, “It’s all finished!”.