It Is Finished

Three days.

That is how long the disciples waited; probably feeling disappointed, confused, and crushed. Their savior was gone, just like that. How could the one they saw heal lepers and restore vision to the blind be killed and buried, just like any other man? Can you imagine the thrill of walking beside Jesus everyday and then suddenly, nothing? I feel for those disciples, because I know something they didn’t yet know. I know about the Sunday. I know what happened three days later.

 I have never had to wonder if Jesus will stay dead. But I do know of a hopelessness that comes from a life of running from God. I do feel Peters pain as he must have imagined how Jesus could possibly forgive him after he had fallen so far.


John 20:1 “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.”

I love how Mary Magdalene gets up while it is still dark out and goes to be with Jesus. She saw him crucified, she expects a body to be in that tomb, and yet she just needs to be near her savior. Even buried, He is her hope.

It reminds me in John 6 when Jesus asks the disciples if they too would leave and Peter replies, “Lord to whom shall we go?”

Even with Him supposedly dead, they had nowhere to be but with Jesus.

“Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying…. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” 
 

Mary stood weeping because her Lord’s body was gone, the last thing that she had left of Him. I love that though Jesus knew why Mary was weeping, He asked her how she was feeling and why.

Jesus’ relationship with Mary was intimate and He called her by name. Isn’t it so true that all He has to do is say our name and we KNOW that it is our Lord? I imagine His eyes tender, full of love and compassion as He says her name. In the same way, the Lord calls me by my full name, “Kaitlyn,” and I feel safe and loved. 

I can relate to Mary when Jesus tells her not to hold onto Him. After watching Jesus crucified and finally having Him before me, I would not have been able to restrain myself from throwing my arms around Him and weeping.

Mary’s hope has returned.

Your hope and my hope has returned.

The tomb was empty, Jesus is alive.

Jesus’ words three days earlier on the cross, “It is finished,” had proven true that morning.

Three little words that change everything.

 Because of Jesus’ death on the cross we are FREED from the penalty of our sins. We are not only freed from the penalty of our sins, we are also freed from the POWER of our sin. And because He rose again three days later, hopelessness is finished. Our guilt, our shame, it is finished.

Never again will we wait three days for our savior. He is here now. Death has been defeated. Chains and bondage and consequences of our sins and sins committed against us, THEY.ARE.FINISHED.

Jesus won us victory on the cross. How often do we not walk in that victory?

When He said, “It is finished,” He meant for you to drop all of the things you are trying to finish, to fix, and all of the ways you are trying to save yourself. Drop them all at the foot of the cross where He finished it for you. All of your burdens, everything you are carrying, they are finished. Lay them down. 

The cross: Jesus decided that you were worth it

Today I’m thinking about Easter in a new way. Jesus never fails to meet me in new ways and in whatever place I might be at the time. I have heard over and over that Jesus died on a cross for me, was tortured for me, but for some reason, this Easter, those words have taken on a whole new meaning.

            Jesus went through the absolute worst pain imaginable for me. He CHOSE to go through that pain, and He didn’t have to. He counted me worthy enough, valuable enough to say YES to torture and humiliation.

            Jesus was not only hung on a cross, He was disgraced in every way possible. He was treated unfairly, they took him in secret, in the middle of the night, and He got no sleep all night. They called Him names, He was mercilessly mocked.

Jesus was bloody, bruised, and broken for me, for you.

HIS OWN PEOPLE betrayed him. He was treated like an object; they took His clothing and made a joke of Him by casting lots for them.

He was disgraced, humiliated, to make us clean.

Nails in His hands, nails in His feet, He hung on a cross near the city, for all to see His shame.

            As I was manuscripting John 19, I suddenly realized that there is not a single hurt I have that Jesus Christ cannot identify with. Jesus died to guarantee me salvation and a life of freedom and complete joy in Him.

            But I was struck by the fact that by dying on the cross, Jesus also did so much more for me.

I feel connection with Him because He knows what it is like to hurt. He knows the pain and shame and disgrace that we feel in our world and our lives. He KNOWS. He gets it. Jesus has felt it. Never are we alone in our sorrow and our suffering because Jesus has lived it.

Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus cried out for rescue, and He wasn’t saved. No one came to help Him.

            All of our sins and the sins committed against us, Jesus has bore them all. Jesus has CHOSEN to bear them all. He could have stopped it in a second, but he chose to stay silent.  Jesus became sin for us. He became murder, adultery, rape, a liar, a thief, because He decided that you were worth it.

Not just the people we decided are worth it, Jesus decides the murderer, the liar, the thief, the rapist; they’re worth it too.

Sometimes I forget my worth, but on days like this when I remember all He did to buy me back, everything else going on seems so insignificant. All the worries, cares, fears of this world fade away when I remember that I have a father in heaven who loves me so much that He gave up everything so that we might be together.

As I sat with the passages and saw the ways Jesus was disgraced and devalued and abused, I started to cry.

When Jesus holds us in our pain, He holds us as one who has been there, who has seen and felt and suffered. Our hurts are His hurts.

I just love Him. I’m so glad that He intimately knows me, I’m so glad that He intimately knows my hurts. He completely knows and understands the words that hurt too much to even say.

I’m so glad that He knows me so well. Though God is faithful, and will always be faithful, humans aren’t always like that. He cares enough to want to make sure that there isn’t a single doubt in my mind about how much He loves me.

Jesus said, “I love you,” and then He proved it.