Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/75

Contributor - Rev. Peter J. Yff

Title - A Word of Accomplishment

Topic - Crucifixion

"It is Finished!" (John 19 : 30b)

"In the cross of Christ I glory", so goes the familiar hymn. In Jesus' time there would have been another reaction entirely. The early Christians at first did not themselves use the sign, and one can well understand why. What we accept so readily today, so glibly almost was then a sign of stark terror and dread. It represented the worst death humans could visit upon each other. Only the runaway slave or the incorrigible criminal would be so put to death. As a sign it would likely have provoked a shudder.

Today you and I accept the cross so readily as a symbol. We place it almost as a decoration of chancel or wall, or put it in our lapels. That the cross is so readily accepted now as a symbol is not the problem. That it is so difficult to actually make it our way of life is!

There is a sense, however, in which the cross is a scandal even in our day. Christianity is a minority religion, even in this country, let alone in our world, where, for example India has a population which is perhaps 2% Christian; where China today has no measurable church at all (the church there has been forced underground); where Japan with its teeming millions has only a percent or slightly more who are Christian. In North America we speak of pluralism, and mean by it that religions virtually compete with one another in the market place for the hearts and souls of men. Christianity is but one voice in the midst of many; and the lone heard most often and most persuasively seems to be that of secularism, or materialism. In such a world we witness to the Cross; to its redeeming power. In such a world we are called upon to take up our cross and carry it after the Master.

Because of what Jesus said, or more accurately, because of what he had accomplished, that cross has meaning and hope. His word, "It is finished" is a word of accomplishment. It is a word of victory, a word that finds its fulfillment, actually, in the empty tomb, and in the power of the Risen Lord.

The Word, "It is finished" suggests "It several meanings. It might say, "It is ended" or, "it is over". It may indicate also, as we have already suggested, "It is accomplished". it may also convey the sense of "It is perfected, it is completed".

What was over? A life hated by the Jews? Was Caiaphas right, then, who said, "It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people; and that the whole nation should not perish" (John 11:50). Caiaphas did not mean, at all. that he accepted a sacrificial view of Christ's death. He simply meant that it was better that Jesus die than that the status quo be disturbed and the wrath of Rome be visited upon the Jewish nation. Caiaphas, obviously, was wrong. Jesus' life was not over, rather, in the words of the Roman centurion in a play describing these events, "He was let loose in the world".

What was ended? His suffering was ended. His humiliation had come to an end, except for the burial, and that was a transition, really. The dread sense of separation from God was over, that terrible essence of hell which had caused Jesus to cry out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" - this was over, for following these words Jesus would say, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit". The pain was over, the agony of the nails, the pressure caused by the hanging, suspended, this was over. The thirst was over.

Yet, surely, these physical things were but a small part of what Jesus meant. "It is accomplished", is what he meant to say. The gospel writer indicates that it was all in fulfillment of scripture's prophecy, and therefore, of the plan of God for human salvation. It is finished, it is fulfilled. The gospel writers make a strong point of this, indicating in several places that this is true, even in the distribution of his garments, "that the scripture might be fulfilled". In his cry, "I thirst", the scripture was verified.

The work of atonement was accomplished. This is what the cross is all about. "If you pity Jesus on the cross, you do not really see him at all." He is not a martyr. In the Middle Ages the crucifix became popular, and it inspired more pity than it did faith. The cross is empty now, because of Jesus' victory. Jesus did suffer, but that is over, it is ended.

The cross is empty now, and it is a sign of victory, just as much as the empty tomb.

Jesus' word also indicates the end, or, provision for the end of some other things. His word, for example, is the death knell to the bondage of sin. In him there is pardon, and restoration. There is, further, the end of separation between man and God. In the gospel narrative something happened during the climax of the crucifixion that must have mystified the Temple community, particularly the priests and levites in charge. The veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was torn in two, from the top of the bottom. What could it mean?

Priest and levites likely ascribed it to a freakish effect of the earthquake. The Christian sees it as signaling the end of sacrifice in the Old Testament sense, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promise. The end had come for the offering of sacrifice for sin; the atonement had been accomplished once for "It is done," Jesus meant to say. "It is accomplished." No more need the high priest go into the temple on the great day of atonement to sprinkle the, sacrificial blood on the mercy seat. Jesus has made the perfect sacrifice, the ritual of anticipation is Over, the sign of completion has been given.

Our Lord's statement from the cross indicates the fulfillment of the prophecy found in Isaiah:

"Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed."(Isaiah 53:4,5)

Jesus' word, "It is accomplished" gives us warrant to begin, and continue, the life of faith. Not only do we think of a cross there on Calvary's hill, but we think now of a cross taken up into the life, onto the shoulders, of the Christian follower. "The idea of God on a cross has reversed all values of antiquity." So wrote the philosopher Nietzsche. To him Christianity suggested weakness and was part of an explanation for the decadence and weakness of western civilization. To this extent he was right: the idea of God using a cross did indeed reverse things. It redeemed not only the values, but also the souls and lives of men. Salvation lay not in a drive for power, as Nietzsche saw it, but in acceptance of a Saviour, and a following in his way.

The accomplishment of Calvary means then the beginning of a life. Lloyd Douglas, in revealing his motive for writing the novel, "The Robe', observed that it had always troubled him that between the words of the Apostles' Creed describing the birth, and death of Jesus only a comma appears. He wanted to write a book which showed the effect of Jesus on the lives of men. This is our task too: to demonstrate the effect of our Lord on the lives, the attitudes, the hopes, the experiences, of people. To do this it must first become sure that He has had this redeeming effect on our own lives. Then, when this is certain, we have a base from which to communicate the gospel, a foundation upon which to base our witness.

It is finished! The cross is not truly seen now, unless it is seen in human lives which have been redeemed by it. Jesus said, you will recall, "and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself" (John 12: 32). This statement comes in the midst of an episode rich in meaning and promise. Some foreigners (Greeks) had approached Philip, and said, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip, after consultation, relayed their request to the Master. Jesus used the incident to predict the redeeming effect and glory of his death. Jesus foretold the kind of death he knew awaited him, ("this he said to show by what death he was to die."). The gospel writer in a few lines gives us the purpose of it all. Our Lord does draw all men, and would use his redeemed ones as instruments. In this sense the word "It is finished"

Oft gives reason to continue. The miracle of redemption is complete, our witness to it never ends.

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