"Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:28-30)
When Jesus died, and he said "it was finished," what was he referring to? Personally, as Christians, we sense that Christ has taken away sin, death, and hell. We read of it in Scripture. We have grace, new life, forgiveness of sin, fulfillment of promises, and assurance of salvation. Yet, while these may be included in Jesus' "it", is this all we could find? Have we canvassed the whole terrain?
At stake here is the question of how the world can be changed. Now maybe you've heard - you can change the world! Or maybe you've heard that you can't. Still, to live today seems to include a yearning to change the world, and to have a sense that we should want to. If the world has let us down, where do we get this yearning for a different sort of world? What do we do with that yearning? If Jesus finished something, why doesn't the finished product look more like the redeemed world we'd (perhaps) like to see? Is Jesus' completed work for a few scattered individuals, or is there something in it for the world in general?
P.T. Forsyth writes about this hope:
"The gift and grace of God for the whole world is there. It is not simply nor chiefly the love of Christ for his brethren that is in the Cross. That was indeed uppermost in Christ's life; but in his death that is not direct but indirect; and the primary thing is Christ's obedience to God, and his action, therefore, as the channel of God's redeeming love. It is the love of God for the godless, loveless, hating world that is there. And it is there, not simply expressed but effected, not exhibited but enforced and infused, not in manifestation merely, but in judgment and decision...The prince of this world is already judged. He acts today as a power, indeed, but only as a doomed power. His sentence went out in the Cross. And he knows it. Humanity was rescued from him there. The crisis of man's spiritual destiny is there. The opus operatum of history is there. It is not simply revelation, but revelation as redemption. It does not show, it does." (The Cure of Souls, 40-41)
Forsyth's bold claim that humanity was rescued at the cross is grounded in what we know of the event. Christ did not only die for his disciples. Christ died for those who put him to death. He died for the "godless, loveless, hating world." Paul extrapolates from that to say that this is how we know he has saved us: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8) I can only sense that Chris Konker is loved by Christ as I have an understanding for what Christ did for an entire rebellious world on the cross. My own individual salvation is best understood within the larger story of what God has done for all of creation in Jesus Christ.
This blog series will explore that question of what Christ has done for the world. We will wrestle with the topics of weighty words like atonement and justification. The payoff from this will be an increased sense of what God has already done for you, me, and the world that nothing can take away. We have every reason to expect a lot here. As Paul writes, "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:18).
Lent seems a great time to explore this in a condensed way. The 40 days of Lent have historically been a time for the church to look again at what it means to answer Christ's invitation to take up our cross and follow him. The Bible is our chief guide, but we'll also have two theologian companions: Peter Leithart and Fleming Rutledge. Both wrote mammoth books about the crucifixion three to four years ago. This blog series will allow me an opportunity to work through their books some more. Leithart's book Delivered from the Elements of the World seeks to chart an understanding of Christ's death that is deeply attentive to levitical sacrifices. Fleming Rutledge's The Crucifixion is a deep dive into seven biblical motifs for understanding Christ's crucifixion. Although her book is several hundred pages longer than Leithart's, Rutledge's book is easier to read. That said, it is Leithart's presentation that will be way more influential on this blog. My headings for the 40 days mirror the layout of Leithart's book.
I'm humbled as I begin this, not because I expect much from my endeavors, but because I know I'll fall short. I have not read any book that has quite seemed to do justice to all I feel about the cross, to the point that it has seemed to me better to sit and ponder the cross itself rather than to chart guesses as to what it means. I still feel that way. My prayer is that these Lenten reflections will motivate us to sit in silence in front of the cross more often. And I also pray that you would join me in answering the question, "what was finished?" with a resounding answer of, "A LOT!"
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