Title: Virtual Seven Words (6) All accomplished
Virtual Seven Words (6)
done
John 19:28-30
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, tried to fulfill the scriptures, saying, “I am thirsty.” 29 There was a vessel full of sour wine. People tied seaweed filled with sour wine to hyssop and put it to Jesus' mouth. 30 After receiving the sour wine, Jesus said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and died.
Today is Good Friday. It is the day Jesus died on the cross. The message I will share with you today is the sixth word Jesus spoke on the cross, “It is finished!” In the English Bible, this verse is “It is finished.” It is said. When someone has accomplished their goal, “It is finished.” Says. If there is something that is not finished, “It is not finished.” I have to say this.
After saying these words, Jesus said, “He bowed his head and his soul died.” It is as if a person is now comfortably sleeping on a pillow to rest, Jesus died. In Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, the word rest appears a lot. Some say, “Strive to enter into that rest” and others say, “They will not enter my rest.” Rest is rest from God. It is not a rest in the sense of simply not working, but a rest that contains the meaning of blessing given to those who have fulfilled the mission God has given them.
Jesus lived a busy life for three years. And you did a lot. However, in the end, he died by being crucified on the hill of Golgotha along with the evildoers. When he died, he said, “It is finished!” There is no such word in today's verse, but in the Gospel of Matthew, it says, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and his soul departed” (27:50). That loud voice is probably the words “It is finished”.
It is a bit too much to say that we have accomplished everything. Isn't it a bit harsh to say that you have accomplished everything in the yard without leaving any great achievements? Especially in oriental culture, it is a blessing for a person to die well at the end. That is why we have been talking about the seven fortunes since ancient times. Isn't one of them called "Gojongmyeong(考終命)"? It's good to die in the end. However, the cross of Jesus could never be said to have died well. It was also dishonorably crucified with evildoers. But, it's all over, what does that mean?
Here are a few things for us to consider. It's about how we evaluate our lives. It is a question of whether to evaluate a person's life based on the standard of values that people in the world have, or by some other standard. Fortunately, we can find examples of such evaluations in the Bible. 1st and 2nd Chronicles and 1st and 2nd Kings are good examples. All of these books are important books that are indispensable for studying the history of Israel. In that book, the works of the kings are revealed, and the evaluation of the kings is given. It seems that no king, no matter how powerful, was not allowed to tamper with such records. The assessments in those books are very accurate. The idolatrous kings, no matter how well they did other things, were not well-received. However, the kings who showed obedience to God's word were evaluated as kings who lived righteously before God unconditionally, even if there were other shortcomings.
Who are we Christians? Aren't we people who don't live by the standards of the world but want to live by the standards of value that God has shown in the Bible? For those of you who have never thought of such a thing, I urge you to seriously consider these words from now on. I said the same thing in my sermon last Sunday. We said that we don't think with a human point of view, we think with a God's point of view. Peter's action, which stopped Jesus from taking up the cross, was also not good from this point of view. Didn't Jesus rebuke his beloved disciple by saying, "Get behind me, Satan!"
To understand what Jesus said, “It is finished,” we must evaluate Jesus’ life and work from God’s perspective. And in order to evaluate it, we have to look at the purpose of life that Jesus had and how he carried out that purpose.
What was the purpose of Jesus' life? For what reason did Jesus pray, and for what reason did he call his disciples? What was the driving force that Jesus had in his life? You can give various answers to these questions, but in the end, if you summarize the answers, you can say that the purpose of Jesus' life was to pursue God's will. The will of God is what pleases God. This is what God wants and wants. Jesus said that among God's will, the thing that God is most pleased with is to save people's souls.
The work of saving people's souls doesn't just happen through hard work. Those who want to save people's souls cannot avoid the problem of sin. You must solve the problem of sin in your relationship with God, and even when you are trying to save the soul of another person, you will never be able to save that person's soul unless you help them solve the problem of sin in their relationship with God .
We know that Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples on Thursday evening during Holy Week. What was the atmosphere of that dinner? It would never have been a friendly atmosphere. Could it have been that there was some kind of tension that the disciples couldn't understand? Jesus pours wine to his disciples and says, “Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28). We will not drink until the day we drink together.” Seeing that none of the disciples asked about these words, it seems that none of them took these words seriously. Jesus is saying that this wine is the last wine to be drunk on this earth. The atmosphere at the end of the dinner seemed a bit cluttered. The atmosphere at the end of the supper was chaotic as the other disciples did not understand what Jesus had said to Judas, “You will betray me.”
After eating, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus always went there after a meal to pray. Jesus and his disciples went singing hymns. As always, he kept only Peter, John, and James close to Jesus, and kept the other disciples a little further away. Jesus was very troubled and began to suffer. Jesus said to the three disciples: “My heart aches to the point of death. Stay here and stay awake with me.”
Jesus prayed that night. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will., Matthew 26:39).” Only in the Gospel of Luke these words appear. “A lion appeared to Jesus from heaven and gave him strength. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground., Luke 22:43- 44).”
It was the “will of God” that Jesus never gave up and prayed until the end despite the crisis and tension in his life. In the end, what he sought in the three years of Jesus' public life was the will of God that he discovered. For that purpose, Jesus died on the cross. This is a little difficult to understand, but that's how Jesus understood God's will for him. He understood that dying on the cross was the fulfillment of God's will. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the evening of the last day. Jesus did not know the will of God overnight. Jesus had been thinking about death on the cross for a long time.
Let's hear again about the meaning of the cross of Jesus that Paul confessed in Paul's epistles. “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” crucified...... It is the power and wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:23-24).