etcetera:

John 19:30

30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 

There’s a moment just before this one, just before Jesus washes his disciple’s feet and eats one last meal with his friends, where John the Evangelist writes, “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

He loved them to the end…To a group that would betray and abandon him, to a group that included the author of those very words himself, John. John tells us of the faithful love of Jesus that goes to the full extent, that holds nothing back, that is not threatened nor offended by a lack of reciprocity and faithlessness on their part. He loved us to the uttermost, as far as love can go, John says…

And with those words echoing in our ears, now, here at the end, Jesus speaks into this moment – after summoning up the strength to speak once more, just once more, the son of God, love incarnate, opens his mouth and declares to all that has ever existed, “It is finished.”

What is finished? A life? A suffering?  In a way, yes, but in another something entirely more, something entirely greater is happening…

You see, the love of God has now been finally, fully realized and birthed into the world. Yes, the love of God comes to us over and again throughout the story of God in increasing measure and beauty. The Law and Prophets bear witness to it just as this piece of art shows them present and bearing witness at the death of Jesus. 

And we believe that the love of God comes to us tangibly and uniquely and clearly at the birth of Mary’s son, yes, but only here, only now, can we truly see, I think, what John meant when he said in chapter 13 that Jesus loved them “to the end.” That phrase, “To the end” is the same word that Jesus speaks now from the cross as he gives up his life. Jesus declares that which John has said to be true, “It is finished – I have loved them to the end.”

And tonight, we see that he too has loved us to the end, to the very fullness of love – the love of God has come crashing into the world in the darkest moment in history and from this moment all hope and life and beauty will spring forth – but not yet. 

Tonight, we behold Jesus as he gives up his life, before he is resurrected, in his death and we recognize that it is only the great love of God that has led us here to the moment when God himself says to us in the death of Jesus, “It is as it always had to be – I have held nothing back from them, I have given them all of my love, and in having given them all of my love I have given them all of myself.” 

“To what degree has God loved us?” you might ask. The one who said to his friends, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” now does just that – the fullness of God’s love brought crashing into the world in the death of God for us, his friends.

He has loved us to the very end. It is indeed finished. Praise God!

Author, Matt Moore. Holy Week 2024