April 18, 2003, Lessons: Psalm 22; Isaiah 52.13-53.12; Hebrews 10.16-25; John 18.1-19: 42
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INTRODUCTION:
To understand Christ's parting thoughts, we have to begin with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and look at how Palm Sunday leads straight to Good Friday.
Some has written:
Jesus doesn't begin the week as a rock star and end it as a falling star. Instead, he starts the week in glory, and ends it in even greater glory ... in the shocking, surprising and scandalous glory of the cross.
MAIN BODY:
On Passion/Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem.
The great crowd gathered for the Passover festival takes branches of palm trees and meets him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord -- the King of Israel!"
And Jesus finds a young donkey and sits on it, fulfilling the prophecy, "Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" (12:12-15).
So far, so good. Jesus comes to town as the king of Israel.
The crowd grasps this and they praise him, praying that he will become their national savior and restore God's kingdom in their country.
They see that Jesus is a triumphant king -- something that even the disciples are still struggling to grasp
We fast-forward to the end of the week.
Here is where most Christians assume that the story takes a turn for the worse.
Jesus is betrayed by Judas
He arrested in the garden, put on trial and mocked, and then crucified and killed.
But the gospel of John refuses to portray Jesus as a passive, silent victim, at the mercy of evil forces beyond his control.
Rather, John makes it clear that it is the premeditated, if not painful plan of Jesus, not the scheme of others, that leads decisively to his death.
This is shocking stuff.
It means that the crucifixion has a profoundly positive meaning, and that Jesus' famous last words are words of triumph -- not defeat.
Biblical scholar Dorothy Jean Weaver points out that Jesus is anything but powerless during his passion, and engages in vigorous verbal exchanges -- sharp commands, feisty challenges, penetrating questions, deep observations and poignant words of comfort -- from the moment of his arrest to the final moments in which he hangs on a Roman cross. He orders Peter to put his sword back in its sheath, challenges the brutality of the high priest's slave and engages Pontius Pilate in extensive philosophical discourse. On the cross, he offers words of comfort to his mother, and links her to his beloved disciple.
Jesus is in control, even from the cross.
The first of his famous last words is, "Woman, here is your son" ... "Disciple, here is your mother."
What he is creating is a new family of God, one that exists even in times of suffering and death.
This is truly good news for us, for we are all part of this new family created by the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Then Jesus cries, "I am thirsty."
This is, for us, a reminder that Jesus entered fully and completely into human life, thirsting and hungering and suffering as each of us does.
Jesus is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, because he has been tested as we are; since he has walked in our shoes, he knows what we are going through, and can walk beside us on the road to his Father's house.
Finally, Jesus says, "It is finished"
This is probably the most widely misunderstood of his famous last words.
This expression is not a whimper of defeat or despair, but a shout of confidence in his completion of God's mission in the world.
These words are the cultural equivalent of an emphatic, "Yes!!"
Try to picture him coming off the cross, flexing the knees, bringing his arm around in an arc, pumping the air, throwing his head to the sky and shouting "Yes!!!"
He stayed on the cross. He didn't say "Yes!!"
He said, "It is finished!" It is "completed."
He did what he set out to do.
We have to remember that he knew what his mission was all about.
A few months before his death, Jesus announced, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (10:11).
It is finished!
Much earlier, he said to Nicodemus, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (3:14).
It is finished!
And on Palm Sunday, Jesus predicted "when I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all people to myself" (12:32).
It is finished!
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CONCLUSION
With his famous last words on the cross, Jesus completes the mission that God has given him to perform in the world.
According to John, his death is not a terrible tragedy
It is not an awful mistake.
It is an act of ultimate self-sacrifice.
It is the ultimate self-sacrifice that Jesus performs for the benefit of his followers and all the people of the world.
When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, we are able to see, more clearly than ever before, the suffering, self-sacrificing love of God.
Are attracted or repelled?
"Charlie Chaplin was a British actor who became a Hollywood star after joining with Max Sennet during a music hall tour of the United States in 1913. He is usually remembered for his silent picture roles as a little man with a mustache wearing a baggy suit and derby. Many consider Chaplin to be cinema's greatest comedian.
"When the priest who was attending him on his deathbed said, 'May the Lord have mercy on your soul,' Chaplin quickly replied, 'Why not? After all, it belongs to him.'" (1)
1. The Last Words of Real People, geocities.com. Retrieved September 24, 2002.
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