"It is finished!"

What is finished is Jesus’ suffering. He suffered the rejection of the people in Nazareth. He suffered the verbal abuse and rejection of the religious leaders. He suffered the misunderstanding and limited vision of his disciples and their abandonment. He suffered the agony of the Garden, arrest, mistreatment by the guards, unjust condemnation by the High Priest. He suffered being scourged and crowned with thorns and being mocked. He suffered by being treated as a criminal while Barabas, a true criminal is released. He suffered the weight of the cross on the way to crucifixion. He suffered being stripped naked, nailed to a cross and hung to dye. He suffered the thirst that comes from dehydration, the pains in his arms and legs from hanging from the cross for hours, the struggle to breath. Now, it is finished. There will be no more pain or crying out, no more dying, no more suffering.

In the words of Pope Leo the Great: “There is nothing more to endure from these raging people. He has endured all that he foretold he should suffer. The mysteries of weakness are completed.” 

"It is finished!"

What is finished? The Father’s plan for our salvation has been completed. The sin of Adam and Eve has been addressed, fulfilling the word of God that said to the serpent: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.^{” (Gen 3:15)}  God’s promise in Eden is precisely what happened at the cross. In Christ’s death, he breaks the devil’s power: We read in Colossians: “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). 

In the words of Pope John Paul II: Salvation has taken place; “that with his sacrifice Jesus has transformed the greatest injustice into the greatest love.”

Jesus, not only takes away our sins, but now He removes it as far as the east is from the west. It is finished, done, signed, and sealed because of the blood of Jesus. In his prayer to the Father at the end of the Last Supper, Jesus said: “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.” (Jn 17:4)

 "I Thirst"

This fifth word of Jesus from the cross comes after having nothing to eat or drink since the Last Supper, the night before, after enduring the scourging and crowning, carrying his cross, being nailed to it and after hanging there for six hours of agony and dehydration. His cry has a double meaning. Besides a need for actual water, in spite of refusing the wine soaked with a drug at the beginning of his crucifixion, Jesus is thirsting for something more. First of all, he had previously expressed his cry to the Father: "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" His thirst was for the Father's love. He knew the Father loved him as the Beloved Son. But he cried for a sense of the Father's love once more. Secondly, Jesus' cry was for us. As he thirsts for the Father's love, so he thirsts for our love. He has shown his great love for us by taking upon himself our sins, giving his life for our life. The Father will answer his cry by raising him up. How will we answer his cry? The only response we can rightly give to his deep cry is the response of intense love in return.

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus has been on the cross for some time now. Though Jesus is sinless, the weight of sin and its emptiness overwhelms him. He experiences the depth of separation which sin causes between a person and God. This sense of abandonment was perhaps the greatest pain that Jesus endured for our sake. Even though in fact and in faith, the Son of God could never be separated from the Father, becoming sin for us has its toll on Jesus. God did not forsake the first Adam even though he sinned, nor did God forsake Cain, nor the Chosen People when they broke the Covenant. God has never forsaken his people because of their sin. Would he forsake his sinless Son even though he has taken on the sin of humanity? If God did not forsake the first Adam will he forsake the second Adam? It is not abandonment but love. The Father loved the Son and the Son loved the Father. It is also out of love for us that God allowed Jesus to experience the darkness of sin. 

"Today, you shall be with me in paradise."

Jesus' second word from the cross was to one of the criminals crucified with him. The first fruit of Jesus’ prayer of forgiveness came forth in the words of this criminal crucified with Jesus. Recognizing and admitting his own sinfulness, he expressed a plea of repentance. He publicly testified to Jesus’ innocence and professed his faith in Jesus’ identity as Lord, without understanding the full meaning.

To the quivering thief Jesus gave a promise of hope. His sinful life will not end in devastation but in victory. The response of Jesus was immediate. “Amen, I say to you. Today you shall be with me in Paradise.” Recall the words of the Lord through the prophet Ezekiel. “Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?” (Ez 18:23)

When we turn to the Lord asking for forgiveness with a sincere heart, will Jesus promise us less? He desires our eternal salvation with him. His reconciling grace is there for the asking and receiving.

 "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing?" (Lk 23:34)

As we begin to enter into the last days of Lent, preparing ourselves for the celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection, I will be focusing on the Last Seven Words of Jesus from the cross.

Jesus’ first word from the cross is a word of mercy and love. It is a word of forgiveness. He became man in order to reconcile us to the Father. We have sinned, Paul says, and have fallen short of the life God seeks to share with us. We can forgive ourselves but that is not enough. Others can forgive us, but that is not enough. Every sin is an offense against the holiness of God. Only God can forgive our sins. 

Jesus addresses this prayer first to those who have been involved in putting himself, an innocent man, to death by crucifixion. Jesus addresses this prayer retrospectively to all who lived from the time of Adam and Eve until that moment. But his prayer goes beyond the past and present. He is asking God to forgive the sins of all those who fail to be obedient to God into the future. 

Jesus taught the necessity of forgiveness to his disciples many times in different ways. Now from the pulpit of the cross, Jesus puts into practice his own teaching. It is not do as I say, but do as I have done. There can be no greater witness than these words and actions of Jesus from the cross.  Do we make Jesus' prayer to the Father our prayer as well? Can we ask forgiveness for those who have done harm to us as well as forgive them ourselves? If we are a disciple of Jesus, we are called to imitate the Master.