It is Finished! Contemplating and LIVING the Glory of Easter

Detail of Hosios Loukas, Greece, 11th century

It is Finished!!!!

These words hit me – touched me like they had never done before.

“It is finished!” ( Jn 19:30)

I had rarely, if ever, truly spent time contemplating these words. But, alone in our Church this past Tuesday of Holy Week, I was touched to do so while contemplating Jesus' Seven Last Words from the Cross.

What do these words mean... for me ... for all of us?
In prayer I realized they mean far more than the end of Jesus’ suffering and death on the Cross.
I understood they mean that ALL that Jesus had come to do was accomplished!
ALL has been atoned for!
ALL has been done that could be done to save us!

Contemplating this led me to consider the immense glory of this last statement that Jesus proclaimed from the Cross!
These words are a cry of Triumph!
If ALL has been accomplished, ALL has been accounted for -- this means...
NOTHING has escaped Jesus' loving redemption and His Saving Power!

Jesus, our Savior, atoned for, and suffered for every evil committed from all eternity!

This wasn't just the culmination of His suffering, but a proclamation that ALL Christ came to do
from His Incarnation
to His Glorious Return to the Father
(in which He brought our humanity, forever united with Him, into the heavenly glory)
was accomplished!
From His first instant of existence as Man in the womb,
to His Infinite Grace poured out unto the last drop of His blood on the Cross
ALL Jesus did, said, experienced, lived
was to save us,
which is expressed in His very Name,
Jesus,
which means God SAVES!

Contemplating this, what an astounding understanding is gained!
If ALL has been atoned for …
Then, Jesus saw and atoned for every genocide, every holocaust, every act of terrorism and persecution, every addiction and murder and divorce, every suffering of the innocent, every heartbreak, every abortion, every martyrdom, every sin and suffering that had occurred and would continue to occur to the end of time! Not only did Jesus atone for and suffer for these tragedies, but He is also present, suffering in those who suffer, in ALL of these terrible tragedies (as well as each big and small sufferings in each of our lives) because He is beyond all space and time!

How mind-boggling is that!

ALL is accomplished!! ALL has been atoned for! ALL has been done to save us!!

What glorious news! But do I believe it and cling to this knowledge when I am in the midst of sin and suffering?

“God, who knew no sin, became sin to save us!” (2 Cor 5:21)
Bearing the weight of our burdens, our suffering, and our sin upon Himself, He opened the gates of heaven wide for ALL who repent, receive, and cooperate with this Forgiveness, this Pardon that Jesus accomplished!

ALL is finished!

What GLORY has been wrought for us!
And at what a PRICE! What more could He have done to save us?!
Because of the immense suffering He endured...we should have immense confidence in Him!
We are to trust in His power to save –
We are to trust that “It is finished” as He said!
We are to believe and trust that, in HIM, we are ALL commended to the Father in the Spirit.
ALL that is lacking is our cooperation in faith, hope and love!
In our Baptisms, we died with Him so to rise with Him to new and eternal life! (cf. Rom 6:5, 8; Col 3:1).

By the grace of our Baptisms, then...each day of our lives
We are to hope against hope (Rom 4:18) –
When ALL seems lost…in our souls, in our lives, in our families, in our marriages, in our world and in our nation...
We are to stand firm and be assured of His mighty power to save!

He has accomplished our Salvation!

He, Who is ALL-powerful, has brought the dead to life!
He has born the entire weight of all humanity’s sins from the beginning unto the end of time!
No one has suffered like unto Him – but His Cross is HIS GLORY and Ours – it is our salvation!

What need of we to fear?!
“Hope in God I will praise Him still, my Savior and my God!” (Ps 42:11, 5; 43:5)

God unites all our sufferings with His --for He is “ALL in ALL!”
He is both He who suffers in and through and with us – bearing the bulk of our suffering, sin and shame…
As well as the Conqueror of Sin and Death -- leading us to Freedom!!!

So we can cry in joy: You have set us free!
Free from sin and death!
Free from eternal slavery!
Free from fear, worry and anxiety if we never lose our hope in You!

It is finished!
You created us in freedom and You gave us freedom to either choose You or not.
Sin, alone, destroys our freedom, for Jesus said: "Amen, Amen, I say to you, anyone who sins is a slave of sin" (Jn 8:34).
It is for this reason You came... to set us free.
You have born the weight of our suffering and our sin – freeing us from this unbearable weight and its eternal consequences so we can live in eternal freedom, if we so choose!

If we choose—
If we choose You in our freedom… (What power He has given us in our free will?!)

You have paid the price for ALL to experience an eternity of glory in heaven.

But we must choose to accept Your unfathomable goodness and the glory You wish to bestow on us – a glory of union with God who created us and loved us so much that He rent the heavens and came down (Is 64:1) to live among us, and to suffer unto death to save us!

A glory and a freedom that we can experience even on earth, especially in the Eucharist and Holy Communion, when He again rends the heavens and comes down to live inside of us – proclaiming to our souls, “It is finished!”

May these words be our hope and glory, as we pray for ALL those who have not yet accepted Jesus and ALL He has accomplished for us, that they may freely choose Him and His Salvation!

Alleluia, Christ has risen as He said, Alleluia!