The Cross: It Is Finished

Welcome

Good morning everyone, and welcome to anyone who is joining us online. Today is Palm Sunday, which is a different kind of day in the church calendar. We celebrate how Jesus comes into Jerusalem as king, but we know that the joy on that day will be fleeting. It’s a powerful moment, but within it we see Jesus that Jesus knows this is not truly how the city feels about him. In Luke 19 we are given details on the triumphal entry. As Jesus makes his way into the city people are celebrating and rejoicing. But as Jesus got closer to the city, he wept over it and said,

Luke 19:42–44 (NIV)

“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

The people will not rejoice over Jesus for long, within the week he will be arrested, put on trial, and hung on the cross. And for us today, we are finally at the cross in the Gospel of John. As we read this passage, I pray that it would strike you new, that you would once again see the great love that Jesus has for you, and that you would see how Jesus is the savior of the world.

Prayer

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The end of John 19 is a challenging passage for us. It saddens us to see what happens to Jesus, but at the same time it is a beautiful passage. Without the cross, without this messy instrument of death, we would not have a restored relationship with God. There is darkness in this day, but there is also light because we know what Jesus was doing and why he endured the cross.

Crucifixion was a terrible way to die. It was a form of torture and execution that involved putting a person on a wooden post or tree using ropes or nails. And it was also not a quick death. Typically, death on the cross took anywhere from 6 hours to 4 days. While the Persians are the ones who invented it, Romans perfected this way of execution for 500 years and used it on thousands of people.

But out of all of those killed on a cross, Jesus’ death is what comes to mind when we think about it. What is different about Jesus’ death on the cross is what it reveals about the person on it. Jesus’ death on the cross shows us three things about Jesus. It shows us that Jesus is King, that he is a servant, and also that Jesus’ work is completed on the cross.

It reveals that Jesus is King.

John 19:17–22 NIV

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

John begins by telling us what happened. Jesus takes up the cross beam of the cross and is marched out to Golgotha outside of the city and was put on the cross between two others. This detail in itself is a fulfillment of scripture.

Isaiah 53:12 (NIV)

He was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

After telling us where and with who Jesus is crucified, John takes a detour and explains the controversy around the sign that Pilate had made up to display with Jesus. When a criminal was killed, it was common for them to carry some kind of sign around their neck or on the cross that explained what they had done, that explained what they were being charged with. Pilate writes on Jesus’s sign, Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews. While this title was used by the soldiers to mock Jesus, the Jewish leaders have an issue with it. They don’t want it to actually say that he is king, but that he claimed to be king. And what even makes it even more interesting is that Pilate doesn’t just write it once. He writes the phrase 3 times in three different languages. First in Aramaic for the Jewish people to read, it Latin for Romans, and in Greek for anyone else from that general area.

Without knowing it, Pilate has put an absolutely true statement on the sign for everyone to be able to read. In a sense, Pilate, the one who handed Jesus over to be crucified acts as an unwilling prophet declaring to everyone what Jesus actually is.

And while the cross was meant to humiliate Jesus, it actually points to Jesus being the savior, the king, and the son of God. In John 3:14 Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,”

Jesus has known that this is where he was heading, and throughout the gospels we see that the cross points us to the fact that Jesus really is who the sign says he is. What makes Jesus’ death on the cross different from any other death on a cross, is that it reveals him as King.

It reveals Jesus as Servant.

John 19:23–27 NIV

23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did. 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Once again we see that all of this has been planned and done by God. in Psalm 22:18 we read “18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” Once again, scripture is fulfilled by Jesus dying on the cross and we continue to see that God is in control over these events.

Jesus turns his attention to his mother who is close by the cross with “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Likely John). Within this encounter, we see another example of Jesus’ selflessness. Jesus is going through an intense amount of pain. He’s already been through an incredible amount of torture, but even in the midst of his own pain, he continues to look out for his mother. Mary is in a bit of a troubling situation at this point. Her son is being executed and her other sons do not believe at this point that Jesus is the Messiah. As a way of both protecting and caring for Mary, Jesus entrusts her into the care of John. Even while he is dying, Jesus is not thinking of himself but instead is thinking of others.

Once again, we see that Jesus’ death on the cross is entirely different than any other. It reveals him as king, but also as a King who came to serve.

It reveals that our Servant-King completed the work God sent him to do.

John 19:28–37 NIV

28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Verse 28 tells us that at this moment, Jesus knew that he had finished what must be done. On the cross, Jesus fully completes the work that God the Father had given to him. In his death we continue to see that he is in control. His spirit was not taken from him, it was not forced out from him, no he gave it up on his own. Back in John 10 Jesus tells us that this is what would happen.

John 10:18 NIV

18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Paul tells us he "became obedient unto death," (Philippians 2:8). That could never be said of any of us as we have no choice in the matter. When our time comes we have to die. But Jesus did not. He became obedient unto death and surrendered his spirit, "dismissed it," and fell into death. Throughout Jesus’ death we see time and time again that this was no accident, that God was in fact in control of the entire situation and that through the cross, the work of Jesus was completed.

What does it mean for us then that Jesus’ work was completed on the cross?

Richard Phillips, a pastor and author wrote this about the work of Jesus being completed on the cross.

Resting in what Jesus has done, we need never fear the punishment of our sins, nor worry that God’s law will condemn us in the end. We may rest on what he has completed, knowing that all that needed to be done for us to be saved has been done, finished on the cross. … Looking at our own works, we see everything not only as unfinished and imperfect, but as positively damning. But looking at Jesus’ dying work on the cross, we know that our salvation is finished by a perfect offering of the once-for-all Sacrifice that truly frees us from our sin.

This is crucial for us to understand. When Jesus says it is finished, we need to rest in, and believe it. None of us here can earn a restored relationship with God. None of us can do enough good deeds in our life to pay back the debt of our sin before God. And if we are unable to pay it, if we cannot gather enough funds, then we need someone else to do it. We absolutely need Jesus’ work on the cross to pay the debt of our sins. It doesn’t matter if you are a “fairly nice person,” your sin creates a divide because God is utterly and absolutely holy.

This morning then has a pretty simple application point to your life.

Believe that when Jesus says it is finished, that it is truly finished. Believe in the servant king who lived a perfect live, who died so that you might be reconciled to God. That is what the Gospel of Jesus offers us, reconciliation with our creator. Trust in Jesus, believe in him as the Son of God and Savior of the world. Receive him, trust him, and worship him.

Prayer

Help us to survey the wondrous cross, Father. And help us to trust and worship the servant King who did everything necessary to save us. We worship him. Amen.

John 19:38–42 NIV

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

In the last verses of John 19 we are told what happens to Jesus’ body. Two people, Joseph and Nicodemus, who were secretly followers of Jesus step out after his death. They take his body and give him the burial that he deserves and is placed in a new tomb within a garden. Yet we know that this is not Jesus’ resting place. While death entered into the world in a garden, we know and will witness, along with Mary and the disciples, that death will be defeated in this garden.