No One Wore a Cross

Nobody in the first century wore a cross around their neck. If you told someone in ancient Rome that you had a cross on your wall, they would have looked at you like you were insane. The cross wasn’t a symbol. It was a death machine — the most humiliating, public, slow way a government could kill a person. They placed them at eye level on busy roads so travelers could look condemned men in the face, spit on them, hurl insults. The whole point was shame.

So when John tells us that Jesus was crucified, he’s not describing something we can soften with jewelry and stained glass. He’s describing maximum humiliation. And yet,  that’s exactly where the most important thing in history happened.

The Receipt

When Jesus said “It is finished,” he used the Greek word tetelestai. It’s been said that some have found this word stamped on ancient bank records. It was what you wrote on a bill when it was paid in full. Not “I’m done.” Not “I give up.” A receipt. A transaction completed. Nothing left to owe.

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

— John 19:30

Here’s what I want you to notice about the sequence. He bowed his head and then he gave up his spirit. That’s backwards from every human death I’ve ever seen. We die first and then go limp. Jesus chose the moment. He controlled it. Nobody took his life. He handed it over.

That’s not defeat. That’s power. And it means that word tetelestai was spoken deliberately, with full authority, as the final act of someone who knew exactly what he was doing.

Mary’s Hands

When a baby is born, every parent does the same thing. You unwrap that little baby burrito, and you count. One, two, three, four, five fingers on this hand. One, two, three, four, five on this hand. Then the toes. Mary did that with Jesus thirty-three years before this moment. She counted every finger. She kissed every toe. She knew those hands. She washed those feet.

John tells us she was at the foot of the cross. She wasn’t watching a stranger die. She was watching her son, the one whose hands she had held, whose fingers she had counted. Now there were nails through those hands and feet.

And right in the middle of that, in the middle of dying, Jesus looked down at her. He saw John standing there. And he said: “Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother.” Even in his last hours, he’s taking care of people. He’s making sure she has a home. He’s thinking about her.

What You’re Still Carrying

Here’s a question the words “It is finished” forces us to ask. If someone paid off your mortgage tomorrow, would you still mail the check?

The soldiers who crucified Jesus gave him sour wine on a hyssop branch. That’s not a small detail. The hyssop branch was the same plant Moses told the Israelites to use at Passover. The one they dipped in blood to paint their doorposts so the angel of death would pass over their houses. Jesus is the new Passover Lamb. The circle is now complete.

Every detail God promised, Jesus fulfilled. It is finished. The Psalms said he would be thirsty. He was thirsty. It is finished. The Psalms said they would divide his clothing and cast lots. They did. It is finished. Everything that was supposed to happen, happened right down to the branch they used to give him a drink. It is finished! 

If God kept every single one of those promises, why would you think he didn’t keep the one about you?

Resurrection People

There’s something happening behind the scenes here too. Creation has a rhythm. A pattern God set from the very beginning.

Day 6: God created man. Day 6 (Good Friday): Jesus died to redeem man. Day 7: God rested when creation was complete. Day 7 (Saturday): Jesus rested in the grave when salvation was complete. Day 1: God began creating the world. Day 1 (Sunday/Easter): Jesus began a new creation in us.

We are not brokenness people. We are resurrection people. The new creation has already started in you, in anyone who believes that tetelestai means what it says.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I think we should have trumpets and lights on Good Friday. We mourn as if the story ended there. We carry ourselves as if that check for our eternity hasn’t been written. But it has. And the receipt is in your name.