Series: Names of Wondrous Love
Good Friday
March 29, 2013
Dear friends in Christ.
Scarcely had the sponge soaked with sour wine
moistened our Savior’s parched lips when we hear him cry out with a loud voice,
“Tetelestai!” Which means, “It is finished!”
Although a single, four syllable word in the Greek language, these three
English words, “It is finished!” are incredibly significant for each and every
person of the world. In fact, we would
not be exaggerating if we should call them the most important words in the
history of the world! For when Jesus
said, “It is finished,” he didn’t speak in a weak whisper, or even so quietly
that you would have had to lean in close to be able to hear what he was
saying. Rather, he cried out in a loud
voice so that all the world would hear.
Our Savior cried out these words as his proclamation of victory in the
midst of the darkness of Calvary. These
words were not the words of a man who was surrendering to death, but the words
of a soldier who has conquered in the battle, and won the victory over sin and
death forever. These words are the words
of our Savior whose mission has been completed.
These words are words of wondrous love, whose wondrous name of love we
know as, Savior.
Could there be any greater love than the love that
our Savior reveals to us as he willingly goes to the cross? In his great love for us, he allowed himself
to be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquity. In his great love for us, he endured the
punishment that would bring us peace so that by his wounds we could be
healed. In his great love for us he
endured even the pain of hell itself as he was rejected by his own Father. But now that has all come to an end, for as
we look closely at his face, we see his love as he cries out his declaration of
victory for us. With these words our
loving Savior was telling all who would listen, “I have won. My work of salvation is done. I have opened wide the gates of heaven for
mankind. I have kept all the law
perfectly for every person. I have paid
the price demanded for each and every sin.
Not one sin is left! I have
suffered the agonies of hell and damnation—agonies that were reserved for
sinners. I have endured the full
punishment and anger of my Father over sin.
I have shed my precious blood to redeem all mankind. And now my work of salvation is complete and
finished and done.”
What wondrous love our Savior conveys as he cries
out, “Tetelestai! It is finished!” For
this single word was the very word that the ancient Greeks would inscribe on
tax bills to show that they were completely paid in full. Thus, with these words Jesus took the crimson
ink of his blood and wrote “Paid In Full” across the bill of sins that we had
run up before God. Nothing more needed
to be added because Jesus blood had completely washed away our sins. Nothing more needed to be done because on the
cross, as our Savior cried out, Jesus declared that he had completed the work of
our salvation! “With that, he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30, NIV84)
Could any other words demonstrate our Savior’s
wondrous love for sinners? When our
Savior had completed our Salvation, he willingly bowed his head and gave up his
spirit. Though death stood near the
scene on Calvary that day, death did not dare to approach our Savior until he
allowed it. How different his death was
from ours! We die because death is the
consequence of sin that our first parents brought to all people. We die because our lives are snatched away
from us. We die, because the Lord
chooses to separate our souls from our body.
There is nothing that we can do to prolong our lives in any way. But when Jesus died, he died at the moment he
chose. Not until he had completed our
salvation did he allow death to come near to him. Only when he had procured our Salvation did
our Savior pray, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) and
“with that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30)
It is never easy to be reminded of our Savior’s
death, because we know the death he died was the death we deserve. Yet, as we stand at the foot of our Savior’s
cross today, we find comfort in the fact that his death has removed the sting
of death forever. Because our Savior
willingly gave his life over to death, death is nothing more than a lion whose
claws and teeth have been removed.
Though death still growls for us, it can no longer harm us! Because our Savior paid the price our sins deserved,
we no longer need to be afraid! Rather
we can confidently fall asleep in Jesus’ wounds, knowing that the last beating
of our hearts will be a soft knocking at heaven’s door. When it opens, we will
be home with Jesus, our Savior from sin, our Savior from death, our deliverer
to eternal life.
All this is wrapped up in the simple name,
Savior! For included in that name of
wondrous love, is all that Jesus, our Savior did to free us from our sins, and
make us his own. Though we use this name
so easily and so often, it truly is a comfort to us, for it is our Savior who
has saved us and made us his through his blood!
In the same way that a life guard will save drowning swimmers by pulling
them out of the water and brining them to the safety of dry land, our Savior
saved us from drowning in our sins. By
his death, we have been declared righteous before the Lord our God. All this is wrapped up in the lovingly
wondrous name of Savior, as John tells us, “This is love: not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our
sins." (1 John 4:10, NIV84)
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical
Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
