“It is finished” (John 19:30)
What does it mean to finish something? Does it mean that you are done and that you cannot do anymore? That you have died? Or does it mean that you were assigned a task and you have completed it? Was Jesus telling us that He was about to die or was He telling us that He had completed His task?
Well, Jesus did not say “I am finished,” rather, He said, “it is Finished.” So what is ‘it’?
Interestingly, I looked up the Greek word, τετελεσται, which translates to ‘It Is Finished,” could also refer to payment. Perhaps what Jesus was trying to say was “It has been paid.” When humanity first sinned, we all lost paradise. We became sinful people and for our sins, atonement must be made. However, we have fallen and no matter how many good works we do in our lifetime, we will never be good enough to make atonement or payment for our sins.
God is infinitely just and we are judged according to His justice. He says that we must make atonement, but the bail is set too high and we cannot pay it. And so He sent us someone who could. For the only sacrifice that would ever be redeeming enough to make reparations for the whole world would be God’s sacrifice. However, in order for the sacrifice to be able to apply to all of humanity, it had to be a human being’s sacrifice.
God wanted us to be reconciled to Him and so He sent us His only Son to pay the price for our sins. Throughout these reflections, I have demonstrated examples of how some of these sayings allude back to the Old Testament Prophecies. When Jesus says that ‘It is Finished,” He could be referring to His fulfillment of the Scriptures. This perhaps would be the obvious answer. However, I actually came up with something a bit different.
As I reflect upon each of the last sayings of Christ, I seem to approach it in different ways. In some cases, the meditation just comes to me and I write and write until it is written and then I go back and fill in the blanks with supporting documentation. For others, I had general ideas but I read first and then wrote with the insights in mind from what I had read. Then the first reflection was completely mine. It was late at night and I just wrote and posted it, it is primarily spiritual. I thought about adding some academic knowledge to it, but then I thought that maybe this was a good way to get into the mood of the reflections and so I left it.
But of all the reflections, this one has been the hardest. I have been praying on meditating on it since yesterday. Even while writing yesterday’s verse, I still tried to find a good angel on this one so as to try to present new information. I drew blanks and so I tried to research it. Unfortunately, most of the pages I read were anti-Catholic. They were writing to tell the world why we are wrong for celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
I tried to not read too much of these as (1) I do not like their message and (2) I do not agree with their justification. Basically, they say that Jesus said “It is Finished” and so we cannot celebrate His Sacrifice because it only happened once….well, if you believe it the way they explain it, how could Sacrifice be redeeming for all of humanity. If it was localized to that fixed point in history and could not transcend time and space, how could Jesus’ death do anything for you and me 2,000 years later?
Perhaps this is a question best left to professional philosophers and theologians, which one day I hope to be. However, for now, lets look at what Jesus could really have meant when He said, “It is Finished.”
Scripture tells us that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. So perhaps to understand what He is telling us we should look to the beginning and the end…
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5).
So what does this mean? Does anyone remember reading in Genesis about there being the Word that created life? We recall that God was there and that the Spirit was there (The Mighty Wind and the Breath of God are all symbolic of the Holy Spirit)…but where was the Word?
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light” (Genesis 1:1-3).
God created the Heavens and the Earth and then He began to transform the Earth, first with His Spirit and then with his Words. For from this point forward, God created the sky, the sun, moon, oceans, animals and humanity by speaking. He said it and it happened. God’s word, the Word, created the World. Jesus was there in the beginning creating with Him.
But here is the important thing that we miss out on by not be able to understand the Hebrew style of writing for the Ancient Israelites. They had a verb tense which does not translate today; it is known as the aorist aspect. Basically, it refers to an action that occurs without regard for time. Therefore, what Genesis 1:3 really said was this:
"Then God said, is saying and will say, "Let there be light," and there was, is and always will be light."
But when Jesus said, “It is Finished,” He wasn’t referring to the act of creation as that would have meant that the world ended with His death. So if Jesus was not speaking about creation, perhaps He was referring to His Act of Redemption – but not that “it was finished” for just as God said for there to be light so many millions of years ago and so there is still light today; but because God continues to say, for all time, “let there be light,” so too does Christ’s sacrifice transcend our concept of time. His Sacrifice continues. He sacrificed, is sacrificing and will always sacrifice Himself as the Paschal Lamb for all time so that we (all of Humanity throughout time) can receive His redeeming grace.
Ok, but we still have not determined then what He did mean by saying, “It is Finished,” for that, let’s look at the end.
“The one who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Then he said, ‘Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me, ‘They are accomplished. I (am) the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son’” (Revelation 21:5-7).
The gifts inherited by the victor relate to Revelation 3:21
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, (then) I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.”
So what is it that is finished? His words are accomplished, which tell us the Truth of who He is and what He promises those who Love him, those whom He has given His Mother, whom He calls the Beloved Disciple and who Thirsts for His Love as He Thirsts for ours. He promises us that Good will overcome evil and that we will be co-heirs with Him in His Kingdom, to sit upon His Throne with Him.
And for good measure, John tells us why he wrote his Gospel in John 20-30-31:
>“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”
Ok, so now that we know what Jesus meant when He said, “It is finished,” let us now look at what that means for us. Because, it is beautiful to know what awaits us in His Kingdom, but Jesus also said that His Kingdom is at hand, as Christians, we are already living in His Kingdom…and so where are His promises? There is still evil in world and I don’t sit on any throne along with Christ…so what gives?
For the answer to this, let us look to Revelation. This Book, also written by John (or so it is commonly accepted that he was the author), is one of the most difficult to understand of all the Books. But the truth is, as Catholics, we already know and understand Revelation because we live it every week..
When Jesus says that “it is finished,” the promises implied from Revelation are directly applicable to us through the Mass and the Eucharist. Let me explain:
There are four main parts of a Mass:
1. Penitential Rite
2. Liturgy of the Word
3. Liturgy of the Eucharist
4. Communion Rite
Our Mass is a Biblical expression of our faith. The Nicene Creed is completely based on Scripture and in Mass, we live our faith. Revelation also tells us of our lived faith. It begins with John brought into Heaven on a Sunday (Revelation 1:10), Chapter 2:5,16,21 begins our Penitential Rite. Also, the first 11 chapters are the readings of the letters to the 12 Churches – this is the Liturgy of the Word.
We are invited to the Liturgy of the Eucharist in Revelation 3:21: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, (then) I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” However, it actually begins in chapter 11 when Heaven opens up. There is a lot of imagery in the next several chapters, some beautiful and others terrifying.
Chapter 12 tells of the Woman’s child, whom is at war with the Dragon. Then a Lamb is introduced in Chapter 13 and 14. In 14:3, we are told that the Lamb redeems us. In Chapter 19-20, Christ defeats the beast and the dead are judged. Interesting to note that during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we acknowledge Jesus as the Woman’s Offspring as well as the Paschal Lamb and the Christ. The priest prays to deliver us from all evil and we petition the Lamb of God to have mercy on us and to grant us peace.
Finally, Chapter 21 ends with the Communion Rite in which we attend the Wedding Feast of the Lamb with the Bride, the New Jerusalem,. At the same time the New Jerusalem descends from Heaven to unite with the Church on Earth:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them (as their God). He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4).
It is in verse 6 of this Chapter that Jesus says that His words have been accomplished.
“It is Finished.”
So, do we as Catholics Re-Sacrifice the Lamb? No, we do not. We gloriously participate in the Heavenly Wedding Feast in which we celebrate Jesus’ Sacrifice which is always occurring. When the New Jerusalem descends upon us, we are united with Christ in Heaven. We are outside of time and space on a spiritual level. We are not re-sacrificing Christ on the Cross, but we are standing at the Foot of Cross with Him as His Beloved Disciples, we are with the Paschal Lamb in Heaven celebrating the Wedding Feast and we are on Earth celebrating Mass; all three at the same time.
When we lift up our Hearts, we are truly lifting them up to the Lord and when we sing Hosana (Save Us) in the Highest, we are singing of the Angels in Heaven who are joining their heavenly voices with ours, pleading for our salvation.
But greater still, as the New Jerusalem which descends upon us is outside of time, when we enter it, we are connected to every Catholic Mass throughout time, including the Heavenly Mass – this is the Communion of Saints.
So, as Christ dies on the Cross, as He suffers for us, He still tells us of the Glory He gives us. As we, those who crucified Him as well as those who are beloved by Him, stand there and watch His mortal body die in horrible agony, he uses all His words to tell us of the wonders that await us.
He tells us of our forgiveness, of our place with Him in Paradise, of His gift of His Mother to be our Mother, of His promise for our Resurrection, of His thirst for our Love and now, of the completion of our redemption which is not some far away event at the end of time, but something we can participate in every week…and for some, every day.
As we enter Good Friday, the only day of the Catholic Liturgical Year in which we cannot celebrate Mass, let us contemplate these sayings of Christ. And tonight, when I return from the Good Friday service at my Parish, my New Jerusalem here on Earth, I will post my final reflection on the last words Jesus spoke before he died, “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit” (Luke 23:46)..
Well, Jesus did not say “I am finished,” rather, He said, “it is Finished.” So what is ‘it’?
Interestingly, I looked up the Greek word, τετελεσται, which translates to ‘It Is Finished,” could also refer to payment. Perhaps what Jesus was trying to say was “It has been paid.” When humanity first sinned, we all lost paradise. We became sinful people and for our sins, atonement must be made. However, we have fallen and no matter how many good works we do in our lifetime, we will never be good enough to make atonement or payment for our sins.
God is infinitely just and we are judged according to His justice. He says that we must make atonement, but the bail is set too high and we cannot pay it. And so He sent us someone who could. For the only sacrifice that would ever be redeeming enough to make reparations for the whole world would be God’s sacrifice. However, in order for the sacrifice to be able to apply to all of humanity, it had to be a human being’s sacrifice.
God wanted us to be reconciled to Him and so He sent us His only Son to pay the price for our sins. Throughout these reflections, I have demonstrated examples of how some of these sayings allude back to the Old Testament Prophecies. When Jesus says that ‘It is Finished,” He could be referring to His fulfillment of the Scriptures. This perhaps would be the obvious answer. However, I actually came up with something a bit different.
As I reflect upon each of the last sayings of Christ, I seem to approach it in different ways. In some cases, the meditation just comes to me and I write and write until it is written and then I go back and fill in the blanks with supporting documentation. For others, I had general ideas but I read first and then wrote with the insights in mind from what I had read. Then the first reflection was completely mine. It was late at night and I just wrote and posted it, it is primarily spiritual. I thought about adding some academic knowledge to it, but then I thought that maybe this was a good way to get into the mood of the reflections and so I left it.
But of all the reflections, this one has been the hardest. I have been praying on meditating on it since yesterday. Even while writing yesterday’s verse, I still tried to find a good angel on this one so as to try to present new information. I drew blanks and so I tried to research it. Unfortunately, most of the pages I read were anti-Catholic. They were writing to tell the world why we are wrong for celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
I tried to not read too much of these as (1) I do not like their message and (2) I do not agree with their justification. Basically, they say that Jesus said “It is Finished” and so we cannot celebrate His Sacrifice because it only happened once….well, if you believe it the way they explain it, how could Sacrifice be redeeming for all of humanity. If it was localized to that fixed point in history and could not transcend time and space, how could Jesus’ death do anything for you and me 2,000 years later?
Perhaps this is a question best left to professional philosophers and theologians, which one day I hope to be. However, for now, lets look at what Jesus could really have meant when He said, “It is Finished.”
Scripture tells us that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. So perhaps to understand what He is telling us we should look to the beginning and the end…
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5).
So what does this mean? Does anyone remember reading in Genesis about there being the Word that created life? We recall that God was there and that the Spirit was there (The Mighty Wind and the Breath of God are all symbolic of the Holy Spirit)…but where was the Word?
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light” (Genesis 1:1-3).
God created the Heavens and the Earth and then He began to transform the Earth, first with His Spirit and then with his Words. For from this point forward, God created the sky, the sun, moon, oceans, animals and humanity by speaking. He said it and it happened. God’s word, the Word, created the World. Jesus was there in the beginning creating with Him.
But here is the important thing that we miss out on by not be able to understand the Hebrew style of writing for the Ancient Israelites. They had a verb tense which does not translate today; it is known as the aorist aspect. Basically, it refers to an action that occurs without regard for time. Therefore, what Genesis 1:3 really said was this:
"Then God said, is saying and will say, "Let there be light," and there was, is and always will be light."
But when Jesus said, “It is Finished,” He wasn’t referring to the act of creation as that would have meant that the world ended with His death. So if Jesus was not speaking about creation, perhaps He was referring to His Act of Redemption – but not that “it was finished” for just as God said for there to be light so many millions of years ago and so there is still light today; but because God continues to say, for all time, “let there be light,” so too does Christ’s sacrifice transcend our concept of time. His Sacrifice continues. He sacrificed, is sacrificing and will always sacrifice Himself as the Paschal Lamb for all time so that we (all of Humanity throughout time) can receive His redeeming grace.
Ok, but we still have not determined then what He did mean by saying, “It is Finished,” for that, let’s look at the end.
“The one who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Then he said, ‘Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me, ‘They are accomplished. I (am) the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son’” (Revelation 21:5-7).
The gifts inherited by the victor relate to Revelation 3:21
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, (then) I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.”
So what is it that is finished? His words are accomplished, which tell us the Truth of who He is and what He promises those who Love him, those whom He has given His Mother, whom He calls the Beloved Disciple and who Thirsts for His Love as He Thirsts for ours. He promises us that Good will overcome evil and that we will be co-heirs with Him in His Kingdom, to sit upon His Throne with Him.
And for good measure, John tells us why he wrote his Gospel in John 20-30-31:
>“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”
Ok, so now that we know what Jesus meant when He said, “It is finished,” let us now look at what that means for us. Because, it is beautiful to know what awaits us in His Kingdom, but Jesus also said that His Kingdom is at hand, as Christians, we are already living in His Kingdom…and so where are His promises? There is still evil in world and I don’t sit on any throne along with Christ…so what gives?
For the answer to this, let us look to Revelation. This Book, also written by John (or so it is commonly accepted that he was the author), is one of the most difficult to understand of all the Books. But the truth is, as Catholics, we already know and understand Revelation because we live it every week..
When Jesus says that “it is finished,” the promises implied from Revelation are directly applicable to us through the Mass and the Eucharist. Let me explain:
There are four main parts of a Mass:
1. Penitential Rite
2. Liturgy of the Word
3. Liturgy of the Eucharist
4. Communion Rite
Our Mass is a Biblical expression of our faith. The Nicene Creed is completely based on Scripture and in Mass, we live our faith. Revelation also tells us of our lived faith. It begins with John brought into Heaven on a Sunday (Revelation 1:10), Chapter 2:5,16,21 begins our Penitential Rite. Also, the first 11 chapters are the readings of the letters to the 12 Churches – this is the Liturgy of the Word.
We are invited to the Liturgy of the Eucharist in Revelation 3:21: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, (then) I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” However, it actually begins in chapter 11 when Heaven opens up. There is a lot of imagery in the next several chapters, some beautiful and others terrifying.
Chapter 12 tells of the Woman’s child, whom is at war with the Dragon. Then a Lamb is introduced in Chapter 13 and 14. In 14:3, we are told that the Lamb redeems us. In Chapter 19-20, Christ defeats the beast and the dead are judged. Interesting to note that during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we acknowledge Jesus as the Woman’s Offspring as well as the Paschal Lamb and the Christ. The priest prays to deliver us from all evil and we petition the Lamb of God to have mercy on us and to grant us peace.
Finally, Chapter 21 ends with the Communion Rite in which we attend the Wedding Feast of the Lamb with the Bride, the New Jerusalem,. At the same time the New Jerusalem descends from Heaven to unite with the Church on Earth:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them (as their God). He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4).
It is in verse 6 of this Chapter that Jesus says that His words have been accomplished.
“It is Finished.”
So, do we as Catholics Re-Sacrifice the Lamb? No, we do not. We gloriously participate in the Heavenly Wedding Feast in which we celebrate Jesus’ Sacrifice which is always occurring. When the New Jerusalem descends upon us, we are united with Christ in Heaven. We are outside of time and space on a spiritual level. We are not re-sacrificing Christ on the Cross, but we are standing at the Foot of Cross with Him as His Beloved Disciples, we are with the Paschal Lamb in Heaven celebrating the Wedding Feast and we are on Earth celebrating Mass; all three at the same time.
When we lift up our Hearts, we are truly lifting them up to the Lord and when we sing Hosana (Save Us) in the Highest, we are singing of the Angels in Heaven who are joining their heavenly voices with ours, pleading for our salvation.
But greater still, as the New Jerusalem which descends upon us is outside of time, when we enter it, we are connected to every Catholic Mass throughout time, including the Heavenly Mass – this is the Communion of Saints.
So, as Christ dies on the Cross, as He suffers for us, He still tells us of the Glory He gives us. As we, those who crucified Him as well as those who are beloved by Him, stand there and watch His mortal body die in horrible agony, he uses all His words to tell us of the wonders that await us.
He tells us of our forgiveness, of our place with Him in Paradise, of His gift of His Mother to be our Mother, of His promise for our Resurrection, of His thirst for our Love and now, of the completion of our redemption which is not some far away event at the end of time, but something we can participate in every week…and for some, every day.
As we enter Good Friday, the only day of the Catholic Liturgical Year in which we cannot celebrate Mass, let us contemplate these sayings of Christ. And tonight, when I return from the Good Friday service at my Parish, my New Jerusalem here on Earth, I will post my final reflection on the last words Jesus spoke before he died, “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit” (Luke 23:46)..
Christ humbled himself becoming obedient unto death, even to death on a Cross. Because of this, Our Heavenly Father has exalted him and has bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus, every knee should bend of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.
We adore your Holy Cross, O Lord, and we praise you because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world. Amen.
Sources:http://www.nccbuscc.org/liturgy/arinze.shtmlhttp://www.salvationhistory.com/studies/lesson/supper_heaven_on_earth_the_liturgy_of_the_eucharisthttp://www.scripturecatholic.com/revelation_and_the_mass.htmlhttp://www.mycatholictradition.com/catholic-mass.html
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