1Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.
4Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." 5When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"
6As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
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16Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
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28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29A 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. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Jason Tuskes was 17 years old. He was close to his mother, his father, and his younger brother, Christian. Jason was an expert swimmer who loved to scuba dive.
He died while scuba diving on his mother's birthday.
Art Tuskes said his son was an honor student and athlete who often stayed home on weekends to help his disabled father, who is confined to a wheelchair. Jason had taken up diving and loved the sport. He had completed almost 100 dives.
''My son, he feared nothing,'' Mr. Tuskes said. ''He died doing something he loved. When he looked at sinkholes, or springs, it was another challenge. He was willing to challenge the springs. He was fearless.''
Mr. Tuskes, 51, said that morning started out happily. It was his wife's 42nd birthday and a party was planned for that afternoon. Jason had planned to go on a diving trip in the Gulf of Mexico.
But when the diving trip was canceled, he called his father for permission to go diving in a small spring in Jenkins Creek. A friend had lost a diving knife there and Jason was going to help him find it. He said he would be back by 2 p.m. for the party.
His father gave permission because Jason had dived in the same spring a few months ago.
''If I had known it was so dangerous, my son never would have been there,'' Tuskes said.
Jason was exploring an underwater cave, but became wedged into a narrow passageway. When he realized he was trapped, Jason shed his yellow metal air tank and unsheathed his diver’s knife. With the tank as a tablet and the knife as a pen, he wrote one last message to his family: “I love you mom, dad, and Christian.” Then he ran out of air and drowned.
''It was a personal message from my son,'' said Mr. Tuskes ''his last words that he carved underwater will be part of the decor of the house.''
His father keeps the tank with the message scrawled on it in his Brooksville home as a memorial.
A man’s dying words – something communicated in the last few seconds of life – is a message we must pay special attention to.
I would like us to go back in history this morning.
Back nearly 2000 years ago to the city of Jerusalem and consider the dying words of Jesus of Nazareth.
As we do, I want you to use your imagination.
Imagine yourself a Jew, living in the region of Judea.
It’s the week of Passover.
You and your family have journeyed to Jerusalem for this special event.
And now – as the week ends, we have been caught up in an event that you would never have imagined – we are witnesses to a crucifixion – not just any crucifixion – but the crucifixion of Jesus.
As you stand there, looking at his beaten, battered, torn and blood soaked body – you hear Him speak His last words: “IT IS FINISHED” and breathes His last.
His last words.
Powerful words.
“It is Finished”?
What do they mean?
What was finished?
As a Jew, you had hoped it would be a special week for you and your family.
Passover is the greatest anticipated event of the year.
You look forward to the celebrations, the parties, meeting old friends and family that you haven't seen all year.
There are also the traditional religious aspects of the week. You spent a good deal of time telling your children about its importance.
You have gone over the history of Passover – explaining how God delivered your ancestors from Egyptian slavery through Moses.
o You talk about plagues
o And sacrificing lambs
o And being freed from bondage.
You arrived last Sunday, after resting on the Sabbath.
When you got to Jerusalem there was a strange atmosphere in the city.
People were excited about someone who was coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
You’ve heard rumors about this man, but you’ve never had the opportunity to see or hear him.
You know that his name is Jesus and he comes from Nazareth.
People say that he has done great miracles and that he is a wonderful teacher.
They say he teaches as one having authority from God, even though he wasn't educated under the Pharisees.
Some are saying that he is Elijah, or Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
There are even a few who are brave enough to say that he is the Messiah and will liberate Israel from Rome.
It only makes sense; after all, if the miracles you have heard about are true, there is no telling how great Israel can be again.
You have heard that He can feed an entire army with just a few fish and loaves.
He’s done it before.
And now, people are claiming that he is able to raise the dead.
In fact, the word is that his good friend Lazarus had died from some terrible illness and Jesus himself had called him back to life while standing right in front of the tomb.
If this is true, there would be no stopping us from gaining our independence from Rome.
So, when He came to town last Sunday, you were not surprised to see people hailing him,
"Hosanna to the Son of David," BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Hosanna in the highest!"
In the excitement, you even took off your coat and threw it down in front of him.
(Pause)
So, here it is – Friday morning.
So much has happened since last Sunday.
Reflecting back, you recall how he literally ransacked the temple.
It was kind of funny really – seeing all of the peddlers chasing their livestock – trying to catch the dove . . . Arguing over whose money they were picking up off the floor.
But then that confrontation with the Spiritual leaders and teachers; What had he called them? "Hypocrites and a brood of vipers."
And then, you heard Jesus say that he was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days.
So, last night they finally had had enough and they arrested him.
This morning, you waited in the Praetorian with the crowd as He stood before Pilate.
After all of the proceedings, Pilate has brought out 2 men and offered to release one of them.
It was either Jesus or Barrabas.
Barrabas is a zealot who is trying to free Israel – at least that's what the others were saying.
Someone yelled that he wants Barrabas to go free and it wasn’t long before everyone was calling for his release.
Pilate asked us what he should do with Jesus and one of the Pharisees yelled “Crucify Him."
Soon, everyone was yelling - "Crucify Him, Crucify Him."
So Pilate relented and Barrabas is released.
Still not wanting to execute Jesus, Pilate gives the order to have him scourged.
It isn’t long and we can hear the crack of leather against Jesus’ flesh.
A chill runs through your body as you realize the "scourging" has begun.
The crowd goes quiet.
But the sound echoes: The crack of the whip against his body; time after time after time - it seems to just keep going and going.
Finally, just before Jesus passes out, they stop.
The beating has ended – but Jesus will carry the pain to His death.
For a while, the crowd is silent. From inside we can hear a Roman guard . . . laughing?
No, he’s mocking -"King of the Jews -HAH -you fool."
And then slapping . . . and then more laughing.
We listen closely - Another soldier yells -"Bring over that robe" and then there is more laughing . . . another slap.
Finally, he is brought back out.
(Pause)
We all gasp as we see the torn flesh, the bruised body . . . blood is everywhere – his back, his face, even his arms and legs.
But, stop for a minute and look closer . . . do you really see Him?
Do you see what Jesus looks like?
Look at His face:
Look beyond the blood from the thorns
Look past the bruises and lacerations from the beating
Ignore the redness from his beard being pulled out by hand . . .
Under it all, there is the look of a man who is determined to accomplish His mission.
It is the same look we saw on Sunday as he rode into town on the back of that donkey.
It is the look of a man who is committed to see this through to the end.
One of the soldiers brings the cross beam over and ties it to Jesus back.
He is beaten.
His body is mangled from the whip.
Blood is everywhere.
Jesus stumbles out onto the street under the weight of the beam on His shoulders.
But, even though we can't see it, it isn't the only weight He is carrying this morning.
It is much more than that.
Isaiah tells us:
2For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
That’s the weight that He carries – not a beam of wood – but a burden of sin.
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
This is “IT” – this is the work that Jesus has come to finish.
Here He is, paying the price for our sins.
The weight Jesus is carrying is the weight of all the sins that have ever been committed:
It began in the garden.
God had told Adam and Eve that they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil.
He had told them that on the day they eat of it – they would surely die.
But they ate anyway.
The first sin – but certainly not the last.
When God found Adam and Eve hiding in the garden, He did something remarkable.
Instead of making them pay the price for their sin, He took an animal and sacrificed it and took its skin and made a covering for the man and woman.
It was the first act of Grace in the Bible.
It set the standard for all sin – something would have to die.
It didn’t take long for sin nature to show it had infected all of humanity.
In a jealous rage, Cain kills Abel.
Cain’s son, Lamech would be the first serial killer
And it would continue through every person – every generation – sin would enslave us.
Halfway to Golgotha (appropriately named "the place of the skull) – Jesus stumbles.
The Roman soldier looks around.
His eyes settle on you for a second, and your heart jumps.
Finally, he points to the man behind you, and Simon of Cyrene is given the cross to carry . . . but, Jesus continues to Calvary.
There in front of the upright beam planted in the ground, Jesus lies down on the cross.
It was so strange.
The other two thieves struggled and cried, but not Jesus, he just laid there.
And then, we hear the strangest thing:
o Jesus refuses the Gall – the narcotic used to dull the pain.
Why would he do that?
Why would Jesus face the most painful, lingering death known to man and refuse to have His senses dulled?"
Finally, a soldier shrugs and pulls out a long spike.
Jesus stretches out his own arms.
The Centurion looks confused, but he just shrugs his shoulders and holds the spike up against Jesus wrist.
When he finished nailing Jesus to the cross beam, the other soldiers assist him in lifting Jesus up on to the standard.
As the soldiers finish their nasty job and move back to observe their handiwork . . . Jesus seems to look up. "Father," he says, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."
(Pause)
Jesus hangs on the cross for a while.
Earlier, there had been some mocking, and Jesus had talked to one of the thieves. But now, there is mostly silence.
As noon arrives, something strange happens.
Things seem to grow mysteriously dim
There seems to be a chill in the air
And then – darkness – it’s almost like night
And its right here that we lose sight of what was really happening.
As the darkness falls, Jesus enters into a world that you and I will never know.
In this one moment, Jesus enters into all of history.
(Pause)
Through it all – He keeps His eyes wide open.
He has come to this place on purpose.
He has been abandoned by His friends.
Even His Heavenly Father cannot help Him.
Jesus must take the full force of all the sin of the world and He must do it alone.
And so, as He steps into the darkness; He begins to encounter all of the evil of the world.
(Slowly with pauses)
The sins of the Assyrians who gloated over the captives they have skinned alive
The SS troops machine gunning women and children who ran from the burning synagogue with their clothes on fire
The child molesters who made sure their victims would never testify against them
Rapists and murderers
Jesus takes all of this and more.
A blackness that has been over the world since Adam and Eve eyed the forbidden fruit. On it goes.
Canaanites burning their children to the god Molech
Nice ladies of the church destroying the reputation of other nice ladies over coffee
Men of the church praying long and loud while their wives sit, hoping there is enough make-up to cover the bruises.
And Jesus takes the punishment:
Gangsters
Bullies
Rapists
Liars
The indifferent
The sadistic
And the self-righteous
Jesus is there for every sin and every sinner. It is a scene of unbelievable horror and madness.
Bearing the weight of abused children and their abusers
Families destroyed by adultery or apathy
Civilizations decaying
Wars ravaging
On the cross of Calvary, Jesus endures it all:
Murderers
Muggers
Vandals
Thieves
Liars
Drunkards
The immoral
The perverse
Haters
Cheaters
every person, every sin – Jesus is carrying the weight.
Jesus is paying the price.
Finally, after just a brief while, that actually lasted through all of history, Jesus lifts Himself up with his nailed hands and feet, and with his dying breath says, "It is finished."
It is finished!
Every sin has been paid for. Nothing more can be done.
It is finished! He has taken the full force of God's wrath and paid the penalty.
It is finished! You and I can do no more.
It . . . is . . . finished!
Every bit of Jesus' virtue, His purity, His very life has been ripped from his hands.
He didn't slip quietly into the night. He came, He saw, He felt and He conquered.
Finally, Jesus’ arms and legs seem to go limp.
We hear Him speak, He takes one last breath and then He dies.
A soldier approaches and drives a spear up under his ribs. A heart that has been broken spills "blood and water."
It . . . is . . . finished!
Today, we are almost 2000 years removed from the drama of Jesus death.
Today, the cross is an ornament that we hang around our necks or in our ears.
We often forget the horrors that Jesus had to face while he hung on that cross.
Some of those horrors were ours.
Our lives – our sins – Jesus encountered them and paid for them on that cross.
The “It” that Jesus referred to was your salvation.
Jesus paid the penalty for your sin.
It . . . is . . . finished!
There is nothing more we can do.
We can’t add to what Jesus already finished – all of our good works – all of our good deeds – do nothing to impress God – Jesus paid it all.
The finished work of Jesus Christ is sufficient. Nothing more can be done.
The best person on earth isn’t good enough to merit God’s favor.
Jesus died for him/her.
The worst sinner on earth isn’t evil enough – that Jesus couldn’t carry their sin to the cross.
Our sin is forgiven.
We don’t have to carry it any more.
Jesus took it with the weight of the cross and carried it to Calvary with Him.
It . . . is . . . finished!
In "A 4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul," Ted Kruger writes about "the only memory that lingers;"
“I have many memories about my father and about growing up with him in our apartment next to the elevated train tracks. For 20 years, we listened to the roar of the train as it passed by his bedroom window. Late at night, he waited alone on the tracks for the train that took him to his job at a factory, where he worked the midnight shift.
On this particular night, I waited with him in the dark to say good-bye. His face was grim. His youngest son had been drafted. I would be sworn in at six the next morning, while he stood at his paper-cutting machine in the factory.
My father had talked about his anger. He didn't want them to take his child, only 19 years old, who had never had a drink or smoked a cigarette, to fight a war in Europe. He placed his hands on my slim shoulders. 'You be careful, Srulic, and if you ever need anything, write to me and III see that you get it.
Suddenly, he heard the roar of the approaching train. He held me tightly in his arms and gently kissed me on the cheek. With tear-filled eyes, he murmured, 'I love you, my son.' Then the train arrived, the doors closed him inside, and he disappeared into the night.
One month later, at age 46, my father died. I am 76 as I sit and write this. I once heard Pete Hamill, the New York reporter, say that memories are man's greatest inheritance, and I have to agree. I lived through four invasions in World War II. I've had a life full of all kinds of experiences. But the only memory that lingers is of the night when my dad said, 'I love you, my son.
2000 years ago, on a hill called Calvary, our Heavenly Father said, "I love you my child."
The book of Romans tells us that "God demonstrated his own love toward us, in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us."
I pray that this is more than just a lingering memory.
I pray that you have received the gift that Jesus purchased for you that day on Calvary.
I pray that you know the freedom of eternal life through faith in the work that Jesus Christ did for you almost 2000 years ago.
It . . . is . . . finished!
Next Sunday, we will celebrate the greatest event in the history of mankind – the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But before we do, we must remember what He had to endure for our sakes.
Let’s Pray.
