When We're Finished, God Says "It Is Finished!"

Rebecca Sheridan
Good Friday, April 10, 2020
John 18-19:42

    “Stay safe.”  “Be well.”  “Take care.”  Those words carry more weight these days, and are offered more often than usual as we enter pandemic month two.  When someone asks me, “How are you doing?” I answer, “OK,” but that’s about truly how I feel – not great, could be worse.  There are so many phrases we used to say casually that I don’t take for granted these days.  So when we call a day like today, “GOOD Friday,” it certainly causes us to wonder what is good about any day in social isolation, in quarantine, living in fear and experiencing suffering and anxiety on a level that many of us have not had to deal with before.  Am I good?  Is anything good?  What makes a day like Good Friday still good for us, today?
    I asked you all to bring a cross to worship tonight so that we can focus on the good news of a day that to all outward appearances does not look good at all. The cross, remember, before it became the primary symbol of our Christian faith, was the primary instrument of torture and punishment for the Roman Empire to strike fear in the hearts of all who looked upon the crucified.  The message was clear: “Don’t let this be you.”  And the question may still linger for us, “Why did Jesus let this be Him, on the cross?”  Certainly, the disciples didn’t fully understand it.  Certainly, I still don’t quite understand it.
    And yet, we look at today as good, we look at Jesus’ death on the cross as good, for a few reasons.  First of all, from all of our stories we bring tonight of what our crosses mean to us, we learn that God has been there for us in our personal suffering and pain.  God has been there for us in the cross.  Jesus’ death on the cross tells us that there is no length that God is not willing to go to save us from sin, death, and all the evil forces of this world.  When we are at our wits end, depressed, anxious, fearful, grieving, Jesus says, “I’ve been there.  And I’m with you there, no matter how low you are, right now.”  We have a God who understands our suffering and pain and is not afraid to enter into our suffering and pain to touch and heal our hearts.
    Secondly, Jesus’ last words on the cross are “It is finished.”  You could hear this a few ways.  For anyone who has had the holy privilege of being with someone as they take their final breaths, there is a sigh of relief that the last moments of suffering is over, to be able to say “It is finished.” Death is sometimes a welcome end to end of life suffering.  
To our quarantine-weary ears, we might think, “I’m finished! I want to be done with being in my house. I want to hug other people than those who live with me. I want to see, face to face, my friends that I can only see on a screen. I want to be in my church for Holy Week. I’m finished, God!”  To our exasperated sighs of frustration, Jesus says, “It IS finished.”  This is what makes Good Friday ultimately GOOD.  God in Christ has conquered death.  Jesus tells Pilate, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.”  There is nothing, no earthly power, not even death, not even a pandemic, that can conquer the power of Christ’s body and blood sacrificed for us on the cross.  What looks like ultimate defeat is ultimate victory.  When we say, “I’m finished,” God says – hold on, because IT is finished. This momentary affliction will pass.  In Christ, we can look forward to an eternal reward.  Our destination is secured.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.