The transcript of the service is below.
LISTEN TO JESUS SAY: “IT IS FINISHED”
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE & COMMUNION for April, 2, 2021.
We come together today to remember Jesus God’s Son and what He was willing to do for us. Jesus did not turn away from the cross. He steadily walked in that direction because, out of His eternal love for us, He was willing to do what was necessary to ensure that we could be forgiven and have everlasting life with Him in heaven. Over these last weeks, we have been walking with Jesus on His way to the cross. We have been with Him attentively listening for God in Jesus’ encounters and conversations. Today, on this Good Friday, as we listen to Jesus speak, just before His death on the cross, we will hear Him say, “IT IS FINISHED.” This is what we listen for today and we will reflect on the significance of those 3 powerful words, “IT IS FINISHED.”
Prayer: (We will enter into our prayer time in silence.)
Scripture: John 19:1-6a1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged.2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head. They clothed Him in a purple robe3 and went up to Him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped Him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw Him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
TOGETHER: Lord Jesus, You finished what You came to do.
Scripture: John 19:16-22 16 Finally Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
TOGETHER: Lord Jesus, You finished what You came to do.
John 19:28-30
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 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. 30 When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed his head and gave up His spirit.
TOGETHER: Lord Jesus, You finished what You came to do.
Reflection: LISTEN TO JESUS SAY “IT IS FINISHED”
LISTEN TO JESUS SAY “IT IS FINISHED”
When there is something
particularly hard to face, we look toward getting through it and
being able to exclaim with great relief, “It is finished.”
Sometimes in the midst of our struggles and knowing that there is
still a ways to go on a road that is so difficult, we find ourselves
wondering if we will have the strength and stamina to continue.
Everything in us wants to give up and be set free from the heaviness
of what we are carrying. We can identify with this feeling when we
think about what has been necessary to deal with during this pandemic
we are living through.
What kept Jesus on course until He had
completed what He came to do and was able to say, “It is finished”?
Imagine what it was like for Jesus to know what lay ahead for Him all
along. He knew why He had been sent into the world. As we listen in
on the talks and teaching with His followers, we can see that for
Jesus the cross was always in view. He knew this was why He had come
into our world and He was absolutely determined to see it through to
the finish.
We know people who think they would like to be able to see the future. That would of course mean being able to know ahead both the best times of life and the most desperate times of life. Jesus, as God’s Son did have the ability to see the future and He knew that the cross must be part of His future.
What kept Jesus on course until He had completed what He came to do and was able to say, It is finished”? There are two things that strongly motivated Jesus’ focus on the cross and His persistent steps in that direction. 1. Jesus wanted to obey the will of His Father. 2. Jesus loves us and our world to that extent.
Remember when Jesus had that agonizing exchange with God, His Father in heaven, in the Garden of Gethsemane? Out of His distress in anticipating the cross, He wondered if there could be some other way. Yet, His resolute decision was to follow the will of His Father. He was going to see this through to the finish.
The second reason Jesus went to the cross to finish what he had come to do is that He loves us and our world to that extent. How does that affect you to know that out of His great redeeming love Jesus was willing to go to the cross for you and for me?
Jesus had the power to call it all off. He had the miraculous power to speak words that would heal people and to raise the dead. He certainly could have rescued Himself from the cross, but instead He chose to finish what he had come to do.
It is disturbing to hear the Scriptures read and to recognize how the events of Good Friday were so brutal for Jesus to endure. Yet He focused on the Father and on us as He let Himself be nailed to the cross.
His willingness to go to the cross for us has finished forever the hold that sin has on us. Just before Jesus breathes His last breath on the cross, He says from the depths of His being, “IT IS FINISHED” and this is the certain verdict that echoes across time and eternity. Sin did not win the battle. Jesus has won the battle and because Jesus was willing to complete what He came to do, truly, truly, IT IS FINISHED”!
Prayer
Communion
Blessing
Song: “Easter Hallejujah”