Yesterday I shared that in the Gospel of John, Jesus' last words from the cross are: 

It is finished…

His human life on earth, finished.
His ministry in person, finished.
The pain and suffering, finished.

But there is more, isn't there?

I have a friend, about my age, who some years back was going through serious health issues — clearly suffering. He couldn't work. He lost his job. I remember talking with him on the phone during that season. He told me that ten years earlier he had made a huge mistake — that he had betrayed a friend's trust, and it had hurt the man deeply. Then he asked me, "Do you think God is punishing me for that now? Is that what this is about? I've prayed many times for forgiveness. I've apologized. I've tried to make amends. But I don't know."

Ten years in the past. And it was still heavy, heavy on his heart.

One of the most powerful things the cross does is show us this: in Jesus, God experiences the worst of what humans can do. He fully bears our sins in his body — the violence, the betrayal, the injustice. And he loves us anyway.

This is a love that knows fully what it is to suffer, to be broken and betrayed. It is a love that takes on our sins, and a love that provides the means for a way forward.

The prophet Isaiah put it like this: "By his wounds we have been healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

Early in John's Gospel, John the Baptist, pointing to Jesus and to what was to come on the cross, said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

As I mentioned yesterday: no longer can we think of God as one who punishes, dominates, smites. That way of thinking is finished.

No longer do we need to hold on to old sins and guilt and shame. We've been set free to make amends and start anew. It is finished!

Prayer: We thank you for your love for us, O God — unconditional, undying. Help us to accept that love, mercy, and grace, and to live our lives in response. In Christ's name. Amen.

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