What Winning Looks Like

Rebecca Sheridan
Friday, April 3, 2026
John 18:1-19:42

    We have heard how Jesus is denied, accused, and betrayed by his closest friends.  Both the religious and the political authorities are against him.  The fickle crowd goes quickly from praising him as the King of the Jews – shouting “Hosanna!” to shouting “Crucify Him!“ and mocking him with that same title, “King of the Jews.”  They exchange his life for a bandit, Barabbas.  They cast lots for his clothing.  Sin does all this.  Sin causes us to turn against God – to seek not what is best for us and for the world’s flourishing, but to selfishly try to get to the top by any means necessary – who cares about the losers.  Just scroll the recent headlines and we see betrayal, denial, unnecessary killings and violence, politicians and religious leaders at war with one another, fickle crowds who are easily swayed one way or the other, unsure of what is truth.  Human beings treating other human beings as if they are not also created in the image of God – discarded and handed over to death much too easily, often eagerly.  
    The Good Friday story starts with our sin and we see the same story still playing out today. We put Jesus on the cross, make no mistake about it – no pointing fingers at Judas, Peter, Pilate or those other people out there – we start with ourselves.  We begin by confessing that we have sinned and we cannot save ourselves.  God has placed the gift of the savior of the world, Son of God and Son of Man in the flesh right in front of us, and we rejected the gift.  At the very least, we did not understand.  Good Friday starts out as a very bad day – the worst day, for us, and for Jesus.
    John’s gospel, however, pushes us toward the amazing grace and salvation of God through Jesus Christ no matter how depraved the actions we have done to reject our Messiah and Lord.  Jesus’ last words on the cross are “It is finished.”  This short sentence is not just a declaration of Jesus’ death, but a victory statement of God’s accomplishment of salvation!  God will transform the worst day into the best day, Good Friday.  What Jesus has set out to do is now complete on the cross.  Throughout the difficult retelling of Jesus’ suffering and journey to the cross, John reminds us that these things take place in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.  God is working to redeem the world through Jesus’ death.  What looks like utter failure and loss, what looks like sin has won, is God’s salvation work.  In fact, Jesus has the ultimate victory.  In his death, we receive life.  His shame, humiliation, and abandonment, is transformed into our redemption, for God’s glory.  The cross, in fact, is God’s triumph over sin, death, and the devil. Life wins, love wins.  This is what winning looks like!
    The gospel of John uses the word “glory” forty times to describe Jesus’ saving work.  Jesus reveals God’s glory in performing miracles and of course in rising from the dead, but for John, it is Christ’s glory on the cross – the son of Man lifted up to take all people to himself, which is God’s most important action for the world.  Of course, it is counter-intuitive.  It does not make sense, maybe not to us, certainly not to Pilate, to the crowd, even to Jesus’ disciples, at least at first. At the foot of Jesus’ cross, though, we have the best news.  Christ has won the victory.  All those news headlines – all the regrets we carry – the betrayals, the denials, the accusations, the fear and the doubt – we lay at the cross of Jesus.  We sit with those powerful words “It is finished.” And we ask for the strength and grace to trust that indeed, it is. Jesus has already done everything he needed to do for you, for me, and for the world.  It is finished. Thanks be to God.  Amen.