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
NIV
Now there is something which the other Gospels make
clear. He bellowed, shouted, just before He let death take Him and it is not
something to miss. He hollered while
hanging on the cross, “It is finished!”
Why would He yell that? Why would
He want to make sure everyone witnessing His death heard that? Why did Jesus leave that as His last
statement before giving up His Spirit?
Consider carefully what Jesus made clear was His reason in life, His
purpose. “The Son of Man has come to
seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19: 10 NIV) Jesus came to seek out and save those lost in
their sin, those alienated from God and hopeless. He came in other words to rescue people. In 1Peter 2:21-25a is the delineation of what
this meant. …Christ suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. "He committed
no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they hurled their
insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.
Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for
righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep
going astray… (NIV)
What was finished when Jesus died? He sought you out. He found you and all your sin. He then bore them on the cross and when He
died, your sins died with Him. He
suffered the insults of people. He was
beaten by people. He was nailed to a
cross by people. Then He let people mock
Him until He died. He looked at people
and not one time did He call any of them a machine. Not one time did He turn
from them like you would turn from a machine.
He looked at you. He loved
you. He bore your sins and let them die
in His body. When all your rebellion
against Him came into His body, when all the shabby ways you have treated
people came into His body, when every cruel and selfish and indecent act of
yours came into His body, He made it clear you were not a machine only to be
used; He gave you His love. He held onto
your eternal life because you are not a machine…He did not let it go when the
horror of death came upon Him. You He
loves because you are a person. Not a
person who has done great things. Not a
person who has accomplished great tasks.
Not a person who has made Him
better. You are a person and that is
reason enough for Jesus to bear your sins and love you.
How can you respond to that? What can you do after that? We are told to follow in His steps. Never look at someone again and see a machine...a
clump of corpuscles and nerve cords you might use and disregard like a tool in
the shed See a person you love. Today, see a person before you and love. See your crazy neighbor and love. See your father and love. See your mother and love. See your boss and love. See your husband or wife and love. See your brother and love. See your sister and love. See the bitter, angry, frustrated, sarcastic,
disturbed, self-serving, gossipy, traitorous, untrustworthy, conceited,
negative, immoral, unbelieving, ungrateful person across from you and
love. We love…because He first loved us!
