March 24, Maundy Thursday Service, 6:30 pm

Lesson: John 19.30

Sermon Title: It Is Finished

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. We live with the unfinished and the finished.

    1. Everything may be finished, but we live a life of repetition.

    2. Repetition is a form of the unfinished, the incomplete.

      1. You vacuum, but then have to vacuum again.

      2. You dust, but then have to dust again.

      3. A sermon is finished, there is another to do.

      4. A meal is cooked, there is another to do.

      5. You go to work and the day ends, there is another day of work.

      6. You may get a day or even a week off, but you come back to the same routine

    3. So how much in this life is ever finished.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Jesus, on the cross exclaims the sixth word, "It is finished."

    1. What did Jesus finish?

    2. There is so much that in this moment is completed and finished.

  2. The finishing includes:

    1. The enemy of life is defeated.

      1. The enemy that Jesus met in the wilderness during the severe trial by temptation.

31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out, (John 12:31, NRSVA.

    1. The consummation of Jesus humiliation and suffering is complete.

      1. Humiliation describes Jesus willingness to

      2. Humiliation also describes the treatment that Jesus received from the hands of his verbal, and often physically violating opposition.

4Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed, (Isaiah 53:4-5, NRSVA).

    1. The complete fulfillment of Messianic prophecies

2But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. 3Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. 4And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, (Micah 5:2-4, NRSVA).

    1. The complete and final offerings of the "one" sacrifice once and for all times.

25Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him, (Hebrews 9:25-28, NRSVA).

    1. Complete fulfillment of types and shadows.

16Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God, (Colossians 2:16-19, NRSVA).

5They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one; for Moses, when he was about to erect the tent, was warned, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain," (Hebrews 8:5, NRSVA).

1Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. 2Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? 3But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; 6in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7Then I said, 'See, God, I have come to do your will, O God' (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)." 8When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), 9then he added, "See, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. 10And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, (Hebrews 10:1-10, NRSVA).

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CONCLUSION

Gracie Allen was the life partner and comedic partner of George Burns. On their radio and television shows, Gracie played the role of a lovable air-head, whose misunderstandings made people laugh.

For example, at the end of the show, if George would tell her, "Say good night, Gracie," she would say "Good night, Gracie."

However, in their real lives, Gracie was very much the brains and heart and soul of their partnership and their relationship.

So before she died, Gracie left a love note for George, hoping to soften his pain and to give him the courage to continue in life.

And that note contained these words,

"Never place a period where God has placed a comma...

Love, Gracie."

And even though for a time George felt that his life was completely empty and finished, it definitely was not. George Burns went on to play God in a couple of movies, and continued to live and entertain up to the age of one hundred.

"Never place a period where God has placed a comma ..." Wise words, from a wise and loving woman . It is certainly appropriate that we remember these words, and that we entertain the notion that "God is still speaking." (1)

  1. Communion is Jesus' comma

    1. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:

23For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, (1 Corinthians 11:23-26, NRSVA).

    1. You do show the Lord's death until he comes.

  1. This is the purpose of the communion supper.

    1. You do show the Lord's death until he comes.

    2. We live with the unfinished and the finished.

      1. One day it will all be finished, complete and this evening will no longer be necessary.

      2. Until then, we eat the bread and drink the cup.

1. Dave Shackle, "God is still speaking," September 15, 2002, Liberation UCC Web Site, Liberationucc.com/services/sermons.

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