By Sister Mary Roy Weiss, SSND
“It is finished.” According to the Gospel of John, those were the last three words that Jesus uttered.
When we say “It is finished” we could mean all the joyful reasons to express relief, satisfaction, and a job well done: “I’m so glad that it’s over, my coursework is finally completed, the pressure is off, the event went well, all the hard work paid off.”
On the other hand, when we say “It is finished,” we could mean something completely other: “I’m totally wiped out, I thought it would never end, I am completely spent with no energy left, I have nothing left to give, I’m done! I’ll never do that again!”
When Jesus cried out “It is finished,” what did it mean to him? Those words harken back to what Jesus spoke at the Last Supper: “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do.”
What was the work Jesus was to accomplish in His earthly life? Making the love of God visible.
How did Jesus do that?
- by His unity with His heavenly Father, especially through prayer
- by His preaching and teaching about God’s love and compassion
- by His miracles of healing for body and soul
- by His patience with the Apostles and disciples, the unknowing and the disillusioned, the outcast and the stranger.
Scripture abounds with so many stories of how Jesus made the love of God real to so many people!
The Way of the Cross lets us remember how Jesus loved us and taught us to love through his death, through that moment when he said: “It is finished.”
CONSIDER:
- Jesus’ faith in His heavenly Father was present even when He said on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you abandoned Me?”
- Jesus accepted the goodness of others to him, whether it was Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, or the women along the way.
- Jesus was attentive to his family and friends—to Mary, his mother, to John, his close friend and to the apostles and disciples (whether they were present to Him or not—the Last Supper and the Agony in the Garden have evidence of that)
- Jesus was forgiving even on the Cross—“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!”
- Jesus was a bridge between earthly life and eternal life—He promised Paradise to the good thief.
- Jesus lived and died in an intercultural setting, in a country that was a crossroads to many cultures in the Mid-East, including Romans, Greeks, and Jews, slaves and free, religious leaders who did not always see eye-to -eye.
Many times, we as a people do not see eye-to-eye with each other. So, can we see eye-to-eye with Jesus, can we identify with Him in life and in death?
Let’s imagine being in the eye doctor’s office.
As the doctor moves the lenses back and forth and up and down in the testing apparatus, we are asked which lens is better for each eye. Eventually, it is concluded that we have reached optimal vision when each separate eye’s vision is superimposed with the other eye’s vision to create one clear picture.
I liken this to how we can identify with Christ—His vision and our vision become one. There is an alignment with His life and ours. If we align with Jesus’ suffering, each day we will see in a new way.
Our suffering - be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual - can be corrected by the understanding that Jesus has for us. He will be with us in our suffering.
When Jesus said, “It is finished” that was not the end of the story.
In the Gospel of John, after hearing “It is finished,” the next sentence says, “And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.”
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus’ last words were: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
At the end of the story, Jesus would send us His Spirit—the crux of the matter, the decisive or most important point of Jesus’ death.
With Jesus’ spirit, we will be able to:
- live with faith
- accept the goodness of others
- be attentive to family, friends, and all humanity
- forgive as Jesus forgave
- bring earth and heaven together by the way we live our lives, following Jesus through our sufferings and death, so that our last words can be “It is finished."
We will know that we have glorified God on earth by completing the work that God gave us to do—to make the love of God visible!
In that, may we all see eye-to-eye!
