On the cross Jesus uttered: “It is finished.” What did He really mean?

As we remember Jesus’ words, “It is finished,” uttered from the cross we wonder what thoughts passed through his mind. Jesus knows he will soon die. Was this announcement Jesus’ declaration to his father that he fulfilled his father’s long-desired mission to free creation from the slavery of their inherited sinfulness?

Jesus, hanging naked on the cross, vulnerable, and defenseless, has done everything dutifully. Yet, through all his hurt and pain, Jesus speaks without bitterness, defeat, or anger.

Jesus simply proclaims, with his final breathe, that creation’s stain of betrayal of their God is wiped away, and because of Jesus’ act, a grateful and forgiving father welcomes his son’s message with these or similar words: “Thank You! I welcome you home once again!

Jesus wants his death on the cross, with its suffering, anguish, and pain, to teach creation that this sacrificial action is about atonement for sins, and not about payment to appease an angry God for the sin of Adam and Eve. Bottom line, God the father, simply wants those he loves around him forever.

However, Jesus has two more important lessons which show he truly is the incarnate son of God. First, he responds to the jeering crowd who keep shouting, “If you are the son of God prove it by coming down from that cross!” Instead, Jesus asks this from his father, “Father forgive them for they now not what they do.”

Then, in his dying breath, Jesus turns to Dismas, the convicted thief hanging next to him, who earlier asked, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

And instead of pleasing the crowd by coming down from the cross, Jesus answered Dismas with these whispered words, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  Jesus frees another sinner with mercy and love, while dying himself.

In these two actions, we see the hearts of Jesus and his Father revealed. Their gifts of love and mercy teach this important lesson. It is that love always needs mercy if it is to deepen and flourish.

When Jesus lastly spoke, “It is finished,” he released God’s mercy to all the world for all times showing how mercy makes unconditional love possible once again.

 Jesus is risen. Happy Easter to All!

Painting: The Deposition of Christ, Caravaggio [Detail]