Gloria Dei Lutheran Church | Urbandale, Iowa

Good Friday Service: In a Moment Like This: I Want to Forget, but I Cannot

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Good Friday Service, March 21, 2008

After this, knowing that everything had now been finished and to have the words of the scripture come true, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. Immediately, one of the men ran, took a sponge soaked in the sour wine, put it on a hyssop stem and held it to His mouth and offered Him a drink. The others said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him.” When Jesus had taken the wine, He said, “It is finished. Father, into your hands I give you my spirit.”

It’s finished? It’s finished? What does He mean it’s finished? This is it? He utters one last sentence, fade to black, story’s over? What does He mean it’s finished?

Could you imagine those gathered around the cross? Here’s Mary, His mother, looking up at her Son in disbelief, maybe even moving her mouth saying, “It’s finished? It’s finished?” She had to recall 34 years earlier the angel said to her, “You will give birth to the Son of the most holy God.” She remembered singing praises to God, saying how blessed she was to give birth to the Messiah. It’s finished? The last image that she’ll have of her Son is the limp body hanging on the cross? No, no. That’s not a moment she wants to remember.

What about the disciples? They’ve invested three years in Him, more than that, more than just three years. They entrusted their heart to Him, their loyalty to Him. Peter who one day said to Him, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus had agreed. Peter who, in defense of Jesus, cut off the ear of the slave putting his very life on the line. Peter who just a few hours earlier, the third time swore that he didn’t know Jesus. And now there is no way to make amends. No. No. That’s not the memory he wants to carry.

John, his closest friend, had just agreed to bring Mary, Jesus’ mother, into his own home and treat her as his own mother and now he stares in disbelief at the bloodied, limp body. No. This is not a moment to be remembered. This is not how we remember Jesus. This is not how we picture Him, uttering some words about it’s finished and then falling limp, giving up His very life. No, no, no, no, this isn’t the figure. When we think of Jesus, we think of baby Jesus and we think of the manger and we think of Christmas and that’s Jesus. We think of Jesus walking on water, having power over nature. We think of Jesus healing the lame. Yeah, that’s the Jesus we think of. Oh sure, we have crosses, crosses made of silver and gold and finely polished wood, crosses we can hang on the wall and we can look at and it’s a wonderful piece of decoration in our homes and in our churches, yeah, that’s the cross that we’ll look at. That’s the Jesus we’ll see. But this bloodied, beaten, humiliated man hanging on a cross with blood dripping from Him, no, that’s not a moment that we want to remember.

And yet, it is a moment that we cannot forget. It is a moment when Jesus says, “It is finished,” and He gives up His life that cannot be forgotten. The disciples, years later, had not forgotten. They didn’t want to remember that moment but they could not forget that moment. Peter would write about that moment. He said, “For you know that it was not with perishable things, such as silver and gold, that you were redeemed from your empty way of life but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the lamb of God.” “He Himself bore our sins,” he wrote, “in His body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness by His wounds, we’ve been healed.”

John, his friend, would say of this moment, “And the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sins. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world.” They didn’t want to remember that moment but they could not forget that moment. It is at the moment that Jesus says that it is finished and He breaths His last that Jesus had come into this world. That was His mission. That is what the Father had sent Him to do. My friends, if it is not finished, then we are. If Jesus has not completed His task, we are without hope. Jesus came so He could utter those words. You see, Jesus stepped in our place and, as He hung upon that cross, the punishment that we deserve is laid upon Him. If it’s not finished, we’re lost.

Look at the man on the cross. See the pain, feel the agony. Oh no, not just the physical pain, something far worse than that, the spiritual pain. Here Him cry out to His Father, “Why have you forsaken me? Father, why have you turned your back on me? Why can I not see you anymore?” That should have been you and that should have been me. How many times have we turned our backs on the Father? How many times have we gone our own way? He has every right to turn His back on us but instead, He turned His back on His Son. As you hear Jesus cry out in agony, as He goes through the pain of hell itself, know that you and I were destined for that hell. But Jesus took our place.

If it’s not finished, we’re in trouble, my friends. If Jesus has not completed His task, if He has not completed His work, if He does not give up His spirit and die, we are lost. That’s why we can’t forget that moment. We can’t forget that Jesus finished His work, that He gave up His spirit so the punishment that you and I deserve will never be handed out, the sentence will never be enacted upon us because Jesus took it upon Himself. It is at that moment that salvation was won for each one of us. It’s not a moment that we want to remember but it’s a moment that we cannot forget. We would dishonor our Father in heaven and we would dishonor the work of Jesus if we forgot that moment. So even though we may not want to remember it, we will not forget it because I can tell you with all confidence, it is finished but He’s not done.