Out Our Way: What is finished?

Out our way, the Easter sales are over and all the unsold candy, chocolate bunnies and lilies are marked down. At the store where I work to supplement my income and help support my son and myself, the back room is filled with non-perishable Easter items to be sent back to the big warehouse. “It is finished,” says the manager and we move onto the next big sales event. Is that what Jesus meant in His last word from the cross?

For a good many folks who celebrate Easter in various ways, even having attended church last Sunday and enjoying the celebrations was just a momentary thing. After worship and the family gathering, they say “It is finished” — and begin to return a primarily secular existence again. Is that what Jesus meant?

For those who deny the Resurrection and its meaning, the last word from Christ refers to His life. After He said that word, He hung His head and died. Is that what Jesus meant by “It is finished?” Well, maybe we need to take a closer look.

One of the most terrifying and yet beneficial requirements of ordination in the Presbyterian Church is being required to take and pass courses and exams in the biblical languages. Even before Doc tossed me on my head so many times, the old brain of this child was never in the best working order — especially in languages. Yet after 1 ½ years of both Greek and Hebrew, some of it got through — and I began to discover the difficulty translators have in conveying the full depth of the original languages. For example, there are four different words for “love” in Greek, each with a different meaning. Yet in English, we have only the one, so we use the same word to refer to our favorite pizza, our friends, our dearest friend, and that special someone who makes the heart beat faster.

Now as it happens, the statement “It is finished” is actually a single word in the original Greek — and according to Matthew, it was given as a “loud shout!” (Matthew 27:50). Unlike so many movies in which Jesus whispers the words slowly and dies, the Gospels say He shouted it. It was not a word of resignation but of victory. Indeed Greek warriors used the same word when they shouted victory over their defeated enemies. So what is “it” in “It is finished”? Consider that question in light of what you now know.

“It” is certainly the task for which Christ has come. Mission accomplished, the job complete, the sacrifice paid, the way for sinners to return to God open. But that is only part of it. “It” is also the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Some have suggested the Normandy invasion as a good analogy to the life and death of Christ, for Christ established the beachhead from which the power of the Kingdom would flow into the world and liberate all the conquered territory.

In Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” there is the scene of Satan writhing in agony and screaming in frustration as Christ gave up His Spirit, for as Luther wrote in his hymn: “His (Satan’s) rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure!” Thus “it” in “It is finished” also refers to Satan’s reign over earth and the power of darkness to enslave the human race. The war is not yet over, but the final outcome is not in doubt. Satan’s hopes are finished and ours have just begun.

The big annual Easter sales are over and so are the formal Church services to celebrate Christ’s resurrection — but the “Easter” season is not over nor is the resurrection. If Easter is just bunnies, colored eggs and candy for many folks, then perhaps indeed “it is finished” and Satan can breathe a sigh of relief that he has hung on to some “occupied territory.” But if folks start to grasp that the Resurrection event — like the Normandy invasion — is just the first major step in the long road to final victory, then what is finished is the fear of the dark lord and his power. What is finished is hopelessness.

The celebration of Easter finished last Sunday — but the Resurrection did not. Read on: of the Risen Christ amongst His followers, His appearance to the 12, then to Thomas the sceptic a week later, then to the travelers on the Emmaus Road, and on and on. Then turn to Acts and see the power of Christ descend in the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and transform the disciples, Jerusalem and eventually the world. And of course there is the Damascus Road where Christ’s greatest enemy, Saul, was transformed in Christ’s greatest apostle, Paul.

It is still going on today despite efforts by some to hide it from the world. The New York Times censored Vaclav Havel’s inauguration speech, removing his references to the Christian movement in East Germany, Poland, Romania and other Eastern European countries being a major, if not the primary, force that was pushing out the Communists. He called it a “new reformation.” The New York times removed all references to Christianity and Christ, but the message still got out.  Even in the Soviet Union, the state run Pravda paper printed the speech in its entirety. But this is nothing new.

For 2,000 years the dominant worldly powers and their allies have sought to block the Resurrection’s impact, ridiculing, censoring and persecuting those who proclaim it. As the bells of the churches in the Kremlin peal out the celebration of the Resurrection, Stalin’s scornful question to the Church and Christ when he scoffed “How many divisions does the pope have?” has been answered.

Some will resist the reality of the Resurrection, which refuses to be limited to chocolate bunnies and eggs one day a year, but the Resurrection Event continues to fill the earth. Indeed for those who still cling to the “ prince of this world’s” (John 12:31) authority, “it is indeed finished.”

Blessings,

Brother John Bruington