Collect
Heavenly
Father, Your Son declared from the pulpit of his passion that he has finished
for us, but that he is never finished with us. Grant us strength and wisdom to
be complete in grace but not content in growth, to be secure in our salvation
but not satisfied with our sanctification, to be at peace in our hearts but not
at ease in Zion, that we might reveal to the world the unchanging yet unceasing
work of salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we
pray. Amen.
Introduction
At 3
PM on October 20, 1968, Joseph Steven Akhwari of Tanzania, along with
seventy-four other competitors from forty-one countries, began the Olympic
marathon. Akhwari had trained hard for the competition, but not in the rarified
atmosphere of Mexico City, the cite of the games, and his muscles soon began to
cramp: but he kept running.
At
roughly the halfway point a collision with other runners knocked him to the
pavement. The impact wounded his knee and dislocated his shoulder: but he kept running.
The
winner, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, finished at 2:20:26 while Akhwari had still
more than an hour to go: but he kept
running.
Eighteen
athletes dropped out along the way: but
he kept running.
When
he entered the stadium the crowd had dwindled to a handful; Akhwari was the
last remaining runner. He crossed the finish line at 3:25:27: but he kept running.
When
a reporter asked him later how he found the courage to continue when all hope
of victory had vanished, Joseph Steven Akhwari replied, "My country did not
send me five thousand miles to start the race; they sent me five thousand miles
to finish the race."
There
is all the difference in the world between starting and finishing!
The Text
In John 19.28-30,
the Beloved Disciple records Our Lord's final utterance as a word of finishing.
In two places, John employs a grammatical device known in the original language
of the New Testament as the perfect tense. This verb form, according to the grammarians,
describes an event that, brought to full completion in the past,[1]
has results existing in the present time; it emphasizes, not so much the past
action as the present state of affairs that action now produces.[2]
In both
instances, John applies this construction to the same word, the verb "to
finish." In verse 28, Jesus knew "that all things had already been accomplished." In verse 30, he
declares (using the same verb in Greek), "It is finished!" In both instances, the translators struggle
to render the impact of the single Greek perfect-tense verb: Τετὲλεσται!
Τετὲλεσται! This single-word phrase signified completion in the society of
that day. When you made the last payment on a bill, the creditor would write
across it, Τετὲλεσται! It was the cultural equivalent of
our phrase, "Paid in Full." Both statements refer, of course, to the
completed work of redemption carried out on Calvary's cross. The first refers
to the affirmation of Jesus in his own heart and mind; the second refers to the
declaration of Jesus to the world. The first states the invincibility of this
truth; the second states its availability. The first records a word from the
Father to the Son; the second records a word from the Son to the sinful world.
And so in his
final moment, Our Lord declares that he has met the foe and won the fight; that
he has assumed the debt and paid the price; that he has upheld the Law and
fulfilled the Prophets, that all things necessary for our salvation stand
forever accomplished. Τετὲλεσται! "It is finished!"
And this is
fitting: For His Father did not send him to start our redemption; His father
sent him to finish it. His Father did not send him from the right hand of the
throne in glory to the right hand of a thief on Golgotha to start our redemption;
His Father sent him to finish it. His Father did not send him from timeless
eternity to the six hours of Calvary to start our redemption; His father sent
him to finish it. His Father did not send him from the ceaseless cries of the
seraphic choirs calling out "Holy, holy, holy!" to the jeering
cat-calls of the Sadducees and scribes saying, "He saved others, let him
save himself!" to start our redemption; His father sent him to finish it.
And so this
single cry of Τετὲλεσται! demonstrates that the God perfectly
revealed in Jesus Christ acts permanently and perfectly on behalf of those too
weak to work their own salvation. What God demands of us, God supplies for us.
What God condemns in us, God suffers for us. What God admonishes on our part,
God accomplishes on our behalf.
And so this word
of completion, this mighty perfect tense uttered by God's perfect Son as he
became God's perfect sacrifice, this Τετὲλεσται! tells
us two vital truths about the life to which Christ calls us. Here we learn that
it's not over; it is finished. And
here we learn that it is finished, but
it's not over. The first is a word of permanent promise. The second is a
word of powerful purpose.
A Word of Permanent
Promise - It's not over; it is finished.
There's all the
difference, isn't there, between something being "over" and someting
being "finished." "It's over" often means, "I've done
all I can do up to this point," or, "I've done this until I'm sick of
it," or, "I've run out of time." As a seminary professor, I can
tell pretty quickly when I grade a student's paper whether that student said
"It is finished," or merely "it's over." Eighteen entrants
in the Olympic marathon at the 1968 games in Mexico declared that their race
was "over," but Joseph Steven Akhwari kept running until
he could declare that his race was "finished."
It is important, then, that your Lord remains fixed fast
to Calvary's cross until he is "finished," and refuses at any point
along the way to declare simply that, "It's over!" We would not have
blamed him if, long before the darkening shadows of Gethsemane's garden fell
about him, he had declared, "It's over," and laid down the weary load
of incarnate existence.
We would not have blamed him if, as the bloody sweat dropped
from his grief-corrugated brow, he had declared, "It's over," and
walked away.
We would not have blamed him if, as he found the
disciples for the third time swamped in swinish sleep when he had appealed to
them for prayer, he had declared, "It's over," and left them alone.
We would not have blamed him if, when he saw the torches
of the betrayer's posse winding their way from the Easter Gate of Jerusalem
down the twisting path into the Kidron Valley and up the farther slope to where
he watched from the olive groves of Gethsemane, he had declared, "It's
over," and disappeared into the night. We
would not have blamed him if, when Peter's single, feeble sword struck an
errant stroke, he had instead summoned from His Father's heavenly host more
than twelve legions of angels to obliterate his enemies and declared, "It's
over."
When Judas betrayed him, when Peter denied him, when
Pilate defrauded him, when the soldiers derided him, when the mockers
disrespected him - at no point would we have blamed the Lord of Glory if he had
declared, " It's over!"
But he rejected "It's over" and persevered through
to "It is finished!" G. K. Chesterton has rightly observed that, "Alone
of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator.
For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul
passes a breaking point -- and does not break." Jesus does not give up and
say "I'm done;" he goes through and shouts, Τετὲλεσται! It's not over; it is
finished!
And
this means that the Christian believer holds salvation as a permanent promise. When you cling to
the cross of the crucified Christ, when you plead the blood of the Lamb as the
sacrifice for your sins, when you follow his body through Good Friday's cross
out the other side to Easter's empty tomb, then his work works on your behalf!
His "It is finished" offered to the Father becomes God's "You
are finished" offered to you as God's child. You can say with the Apostle
Paul, "I
know whom I have believed , and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
day." (2 Tim 1.12) You can affirm with the unknown writer to the Hebrews, "we
. . .have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedec." (Heb 6.18-20) It's not over; it is finished!
Martin
Luther said, "In this word, 'It is finished,' I will comfort myself. I am
forced to confess that all my finishing
of the will of God is imperfect, piecemeal work, while yet the law urges on me
that not so much as one tittle of it must remain unaccomplished. Christ is the
end of the law. What it requires, Christ has performed." It's
not over; it is finished!
Howard
Thurman, the late Dean Emeritus of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, recalls
the hymn of his boyhood, "If Satan says I don't have grace/I'll take him
back to the starting place"![3] And the final Τετὲλεσται! of Christ is that starting place, that initial and unchanging
salvation of the saint. It's not over;
it is finished!
Transition
So
then, we have a word of permanent
promise, because it's not over; it
is finished. But would we, then, simply linger in the fresh dawn of Easter
Sunday, clinging like Mary Magdalene to the feet of the risen Christ, so secure
in our salvation that we grow slothful in our sanctification? No! Because there
is another truth to find in this saying of Christ. It is true that it's not
over; it is finished, but it is also true that it is finished, but it's not over.
A Word of
Powerful Purpose: It is finished, but it's not over.
Just
a moment's reflection will tell you that just because something is finished
does not mean it is over. In fact, most things that really matter can't even
begin until they are finished. When your pastor graduated from the Logsdon
Seminary program at the South Texas School of Christian Studies, he could truly
say, "It is finished!" He had met every requirement, taken every
course, earned every credit. We had audited and vetted his transcript and
analyzed his degree plan and there could be no possibility of doubt. When he
crossed that platform and they hung about his neck the hood of a Master of
Divinity, when he clutched that precious piece of paper in his hand, he could
declare, Τετὲλεσται!, it is finished.
But
that was not the end! It was the beginning. The "It is finished" of
theological education is only the, "It has started" of fruitful
ministry. It is finished, but it's not
over.
When
a woman and a man stand in this altar and take their vows in Christian
marriage, they can truly say, "It is finished." All of their previous
relationship, all of their dating and talking and planning reach completion in
the moment when they state their vows and exchange their rings. The minister
declares as God's representative that they are now husband and wife. The
minister signs the license and files it with the county clerk. The couple are
now husband and wife and and Τετὲλεσται!, it is
finished!
But
God help the husband who thinks that because it is finished, it's over! God
deliver that spouse who fails to understand that the "it is finished"
of the marriage vows amounts to anything more than the, "Let's get
started" of the lifelong sacrament of Christian marriage. I once heard one
of our undergraduates say to her fiance, "I can't wait to spend the rest
of my life with you!" I butted in and said, "Well, you'll have to wait
the rest of your life." At a wedding, it is finished, but in marriage it's
not over until death do us part. The marriage vows mean that it is finished, but it's not over.
And
the same thing is true with the finished work of Christ on the cross. While we
can never live up to our salvation, God demands that we live out our salvation.
While we can never work up to it, we must never cease to work it out. It is
finished, but it's not over. Now this has dimensions that are personal,
and this has dimensions that are public.
The
personal dimension of my salvation
is my own sanctification. While it
takes only a moment to trust in Christ, it takes a lifetime to be conformed to
Christ. This is what the Apostle Paul means when he declares his confidence
that, "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ
Jesus." (Phil 1.6) The fact that my sin is forgiven does not mean that my
sins can be ignored! It is finished, but
it's not over.
As
C. S. Lewis said of our struggle against sin, "(God) will be infinitely
merciful to our repeated failures; I know of no promise that He will accept a
deliberate compromise. . . . Failures will be forgiven; it is acquiescence that
is fatal."[4]
In other words, Τετὲλεσται!, it is finished, but it's not over.
Dr.
Howard Marshall says of the battle of Christian sanctification, "This
takes time - the conquest spreads over a lifetime."[5] Τετὲλεσται! It
is finished, but it's not over.
So
in Jesus name, take arms against the sin that so easily besets you! While life
lasts there will always be evil that we continue to do, and good that we have
not begun to do. There will always be room for repentance and scope for
service. Let the completed and accomplished work of Calvary be your confidence
for moving forward, not your excuse for slipping back. Τετὲλεσται! It
is finished, but it's not over!
But just as there is a personal
dimension to this truth, so there is a public one. The public dimension of my salvation is our shared suffering. When on that cross Jesus declared salvation
complete, he did not mean only the individual redemption of each believer.
Remember that Jesus' first proclamation of the Gospel centers on "the
Kingdom of Heaven." (Mk 1.15) Now the Kingdom of Heaven is not where you
go when you die, otherwise Jesus could not have declared that it was "at
hand." The Kingdom of Heaven is where you obey the rule of God while you
live. The Kingdom of Heaven is where character, and not color, determines one's
treatment. The Kingdom of Heave is where work and not wealth determines your
worth. The Kingdom of Heaven is where right and not might sways the scales of
justice. The Kingdom of Heaven is where the outsiders finally make it inside
and the down-and-out get lifted up and the marginalized find themselves in the
very middle.
And in case you haven't noticed
lately, that's not the world we live in! Jesus declared on the Cross that it is
finished, that he has done all that needs to be done to make the Kingdom of
Heaven a reality but even though it is
finished, it's not done. That's what Paul means when he declares, "I
do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions."
(Col 1.24) Paul does not blasphemously imply that Jesus failed to complete his
work. Paul affirms the "It is finished" of Calvary. Instead, Paul
says that his own suffering, born in the same manner as Christ bore the cross, extends that same saving work and thus
brings in the Kingdom. Τετὲλεσται! It is finished,
but it's not over!
Every time we stand up to injustice
without ourselves committing injustice; every time we turn the other cheek
while refusing to bow our heads; every second mile we walk, though we walk it
in the protest line or on the road to the ballot box; every wrong we forgive
while refusing to call it a right - every time we accept in the name of Christ
the suffering we did not choose, we join and become more deeply joined to Our
Lord, who won by losing and defeated death by dying and brought about justice
by undergoing an unjust death. It is finished, but it's not over, and until
it's over, every sorrow I undergo partakes of the glorious work of Christ. Τετὲλεσται! It is finished,
but it's not over!
Conclusion
So it's not over; it is finished. And it is
finished, but it's not over. Τετὲλεσται! There is
a story from our own times that helps us grasp the power of this one word from
the cross.
On October 30, 1974, world heavyweight
boxing champion George Foreman defended his title against the former champ,
Muhammad Ali. The bout took place in Zaire, Africa. Sports writers dubbed it
"The Rumble in the Jungle."
All
the odds favored Foreman: at twenty-four
he was in his prime and had a right hand that could punch through the hull of a
battleship. He had stopped Joe Frazier in two rounds to win the belt and then
defended it by dispatching Ken Norton - the only man besides Frazier ever to
beat Ali - in the same fashion. Ali, on the other hand, at thirty-two had been
idle for over three years because he resisted the Viet Nam draft. He then
fought Frazier for the title and lost decisively.
The
older challenger had one real weapon: He was incredibly quick on his feet and could
stay out of Foreman's reach while outscoring him. In the first round, however,
Foreman showed that he was ready for this tactic by moving to cut off the ring,
forcing Ali to take two steps for the champ's one. If this kept up, the older
man would tire and fall prey to
Foreman's punching power.
But
Ali had prepared a secret weapon. In round two, he began to lean on the ropes
and cover up. He let the bigger man pound away at his arms and shoulders
without scoring any points or doing any real damage. Meanwhile, Ali took every
opportunity to shoot quick blows to the face between Foreman's guard, causing
the champ's eyes to swell. Then, he started taunting Foreman. "They told
me you could punch, George!" he hissed. "They told me you could punch
like Joe Louis!" Enraged and inexperienced, Foreman lost his temper and
began slugging away, quickly tiring himself without really harming his
opponent. He began to fade in the jungle heat.
In
the seventh round, Foreman made one last effort. He bulled Ali into the ropes
and unleashed a right hand to the ribs that by all the laws of physics should
have come out the other side. Instead, Ali rode the force of the punch, sagged
back on the ring ropes and bounced up onto Foreman's chest, whispering in his
ear, "Is that all you got, George?" As Foreman himself later
testified, he thought to himself, "Yeah, that's about it."
It
was: In the eighth round Ali suddenly cut loose with lightning-fast a five
punch combination ending with a left hook that brought Foreman's head straight
up. Ali tagged this target with a hard right hand and Foreman crashed forward
to the canvass. He did not fall back with the momentum of the blow, but
forward, meaning the lights had all gone out. With a champion's heart he
clambered to his feet at the count of nine and the referee waved Ali back in,
but after two seconds jumped between the men to declare a TKO.
THAT
is the force of the Greek perfect tense here: Jesus has taken everything that
Satan and Death can dish out. Judas' betrayal, Peter's denial, the Sadducees'
mock trials, and the Roman's practical politics are not his enemy; they are
only punches thrown by the great Dragon of the Revelation, boxing gloves on the
wicked fists of the Accuser of the Brethren. In this moment, as Death deals its
final blow, Jesus sags back on the ring-ropes of his cross, surges upward one
final time and cries out, Τετὲλεσται!, which being translated means,
"Is that all you got, Devil?" To which Satan must eternally reply,
"Yep, that's about it." Three days later the knock-out blow of the
Resurrection leaves Christ with his hand raised before an eternally defeated
foe.
And one glorious
day, when there are no more days for sun and moon have fled from the Light of
very light, one final time, when time shall be no more for the Eternal shall
have been revealed, I will stand before the Great White Throne of judgment. And
at my left hand will stand the Satan, the accuser of the brethren, as he stood
at the side of Joshua the high priest (Zech 3.1). And he will hit me with
everything he has - every sinful deed I've done, every vile and hateful word
I've spoken, every twisted and selfish thought I've pondered - and not one
punch will land because I will sag back into the outstretched arms of Christ
and cover up in his shed blood!
And when my enemy
has punched himself powerless, when he has hurled accusations until he can no
longer find anything to say, Jesus will stare into those eyes of evil and hold
out the five wounds of Calvary and say, "Is that all you got, Devil?"
And before the throne of God and all the angels and risen saints the devil will
say, "Yeah, that's about it." And my Lord Jesus will hit him with his
nail-scarred hands and he will crash to the solid floor of the crystal sea and
crash through it to the pit of destruction reserved for him and his angels
forevermore!
Oh, rejoice,
children of God! It's not over; it is
finished! It's finished, but it's not over!
Benediction
May the Lord
do for you
What you can't do for yourself.
May the Lord
do in you
What Christ and you do together.
May the Lord
do through you
What you must do for those around
you.
In the name
of the Christ who assures you
That it is not done; it is finished.
In the name
of the Christ who exhorts you
That it is finished, but it's not done.
In the name
of the Christ who
With the Father and the Spirit
Is one God
now and forever,
Amen.
[2]
Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond
the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 1996), 573.
[5]
Marshall, 32.
The Greek does seem clear....but what of the Aramaic Jesus would have actually uttered? How is that set up? perfect-tense? Is there a corollary?
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