Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
This is Thursday of ‘holy week’, sometimes called “Maundy Thursday”, in honor of the agony and suffering of Jesus on that Thursday of the Passover weekend, which changed the world. In the upper room with agony, Jesus identified both His betrayer and denier; then He sweat drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane as He prayed. Then His humiliating arrest; His abandonment by His disciples; His trials and beatings, all of which occurred from sundown Thursday until shortly after dawn on Friday morning.
We’ve spent the past two days on Golgotha hill, watching the crucifixion of Jesus and listening to the last words He spoke before He died. A person’s last words are often very significant. They sure were for Jesus. 2000 years later they are life changing for all who believe them!
Yesterday, we looked at the horrific tragedy Jesus was experiencing as God the Father placed the weight, shame and guilt of all human sin upon His Son Jesus, as Jesus hung on the cross. (2 Cor. 5:21) That sin separated Jesus from both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, leaving Jesus to bear God’s wrath alone. These words from the prophet Isaiah, written 700 years before, describe what God the Father was doing TO His Son Jesus, during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ: “Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth…Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:4-7,10) Oh my that’s hard to read or hear, isn’t it?
For 700 years Jews tried to imagine what those words meant, but on that Thursday night and Friday, Jesus lived the horrificness of those words of justice and judgment. Sin, rebellion against God, must be atoned for, ransomed for, in order for there to be any hope of deliverance for anyone! Jesus had said: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Now we much better understand Jesus’ desperate cry from the cross expressing His anguish and His despair: “Eli, Eli lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?)” (Matt. 27:46) Matthew tells us the sky over Jerusalem went black as Jesus spoke those words from the cross. The darkness lasted 3 hours. It was a visible picture of the hopelessness of our world without Jesus, without Jesus’ willingness to become our atonement sacrifice.
In that darkness, with His life ebbing away, Jesus made two more powerful proclamations from the cross. John was there as an eyewitness and John reports that Jesus cried out: ‘TETELESTAI’ translated into English as: “It is Finished!” (John 19:30) That singular word “Tetelestai” was profoundly significant! It is a legal term the judge would pronounce when a prisoner had finally paid their punishment and was released as a free man. Or the word written on a legal document when the final payment had been made. Do you understand what ‘tetelestai’ meant when Jesus said it from the cross as He was dying? Yes, it meant God’s justice for humanity’s sin rebellion had been fully satisfied by Jesus Christ’s suffering and death! It meant God was now able to offer salvation, redemption, forgiveness to any repentant person, because Jesus had paid our full sin debt price to God!
Very soon thereafter, Jesus, with His last breath, spoke to His heavenly Father, Almighty God: “Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Then, the Gospel writers tell us, Jesus’ physical body died. His heart stopped beating, His lungs stopped breathing. The human incarnation of God died on that cross, while the soul/spirit of God the Son went to paradise, as Jesus had predicted. (Luke 23:43) In that moment God the Father responded with several dramatic events that shook Jerusalem and declared “Tetelestai” to the world:
First... God reached into the great Temple and tore the veil, from top to bottom. (Matt. 27:50,51)
This veil was a sacred division separating the Most Holy Place and the Ark of the Covenant, from the rest of the Temple, the Holy Place with the Altar of Incense, the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lampstands. By tearing this veil God Himself was inviting all humanity to understand that any person can now approach God at any time from anyplace in the world, as long as we come in Jesus’ name, trusting in the finished atonement work of Jesus, who paid with His blood, our entrance fee into the throne room of God! This truth is declared so clearly in Hebrews 10:19-23
Second… God sent an earthquake to shake Golgotha hill and rumble through Jerusalem.
Matthew describes it this way: “The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life…” (Matt. 27:51,52) Earthquakes are frightening, but open tombs and resurrections of dead people known to have been God honoring people, now that’s even more frightening, would you agree?
Third… God touched the heart of the Roman centurion who had been responsible for this crucifixion, and he declared: “Surely He was the Son of God.” (Matt. 27:54)
John the disciple was still standing at the cross with Mary, Jesus’ mother and Mary Magdalene. John reports that some of the soldiers approached the crosses and finding the two criminals still alive, broke their legs with sledgehammers, causing their death. But when they came to Jesus’ cross, they found Jesus already dead, so did not break His legs but instead drove a spear into His side “bringing a flow of blood and water.” (John 19:32-37) John declares that this act was yet one more significant fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies.
Let’s stand in the darkness watching and reflecting on what we have seen and heard. The human body of Jesus Christ, God incarnate has died. His final words were so very impactful to all who heard them. But now what? Who will take responsibility for Jesus’ body? Tomorrow we’ll answer that question and we’ll watch the burial of Jesus.
For today, we have powerful ‘lessons learned’ notes to aid our reflection, and a very powerful worship song, and I urge us all to take some time to pray, expressing our hearts to Jesus. And I’ll meet you here, at the cross, tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: John 19:28-37.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.