John 19:28-42 The Power of the Cross: Power of Sacrifice
Our text today is John 19:28-42. John chapter 19, verses 28-42:
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.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Tetelestai. Tetelestai.
That’s the word in John 19:30. Tetelestai. That’s the Greek word that John records as Jesus’ final word before dying. Tetelestai.
It’s a single Greek word, though in English translations it takes a couple of words to convey the meaning. Tetelestai. In our NIV Bibles, it’s written as “It is finished.”
The word is a word that carries the idea of an end. It’s a word that was used in the ancient world for completion. It is a word that means all that needs to be done is done, and nothing needs to be added.
Tetelestai. It was a word that was used in a variety of ways in the first century. One preacher describes the multitude of usages like this:
A farmer would use it to describe an animal so beautiful that it seemed to have no faults. He would look at his lamb and declare, Tetelestai!
A carpenter, after finishing a perfect piece of furniture would smile and say, Tetelestai!
An artist, describing his finishing touch on a canvas would step back and pronounce, Tetelestai!
A servant would return to his master after faithfully finishing his job and report, Tetelestai!
And, perhaps most importantly, this was a banking term. When a person would fully pay off His debt, the banker would hand him a receipt with the word Tetelestai stamped on it.
It is finished. There are no defects or slivers. The picture is perfect. The job has been performed exactly to the specifications. The debt is fully forgiven. “Paid in full” means that once something is paid for, you never have to pay for it again. You’d be foolish to even try. (Brian Bill, “The Word of Triumph” www.sermoncentral.com)
Tetelestai. It is finished. The final word to fall from Jesus’ lips in John’s account of the crucifixion. So what did Jesus mean when He said it?
It is Over
Well, on the one hand, I think Jesus probably meant to say that his life was over. Jesus has just undergone an excruciating 20 hours or so. Arrested in the garden, randomly punched and kicked by sadistic guards, held up to public ridicule and scorn, scourged by the whip and beaten some more, and then hung up on a cross with nails through His wrists and ankles so that He could slowly suffocate to death—Jesus has experienced a grueling physical ordeal.
The whole thing has been designed to kill Him, and so when we get to verse 30 and Jesus says: “It is finished”, it is more or less an announcement that the end has come. Jesus is saying that He is about to die.
And indeed, in John’s narrative, that’s the very next thing that happens. It says, “With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
What’s interesting to notice here is that Jesus is still in control. As amazing as it is to imagine—with everything that has been done to Him and all that He has suffered—John writes this to show that Jesus was still in control. Jesus announces that it is over, and then He bows his head and gives up his spirit. That could be translated to read, literally, “he handed over” his spirit.
Despite the betrayal and the cruelty and Pilate’s timid waffling, Jesus’ death is no accident. He still decides when He will give up his spirit. As he said back in John chapter 10, no one would take his life from Him, He had the authority to lay it down, and so He does here. (John 10:17,18)
So, in part, Jesus is saying that it is now time for Him to die.
It is Accomplished
At the same time, there is a sense in which Jesus is saying that His work is accomplished. Like the servant reporting to his master that a task has been completed, Jesus is saying that He has finished all He set out to do.
Throughout His life, Jesus was very consistent about having a job to accomplish. Jesus was very purpose-driven. He was clear about His life’s mission. When He was 12 He told His parents that He needed to be about His Father’s business (Luke 2:49). Later, when His disciples found Him talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, He told them His food was to do the will of the One who had sent Him (John 4:34). And, when He told them He was going to Jerusalem to die and they tried to dissuade Him, He was clear that He had a job to do.
So, by saying Tetelestai here, Jesus is saying that He has completed the work that He has been given. Just like, in the high priestly prayer He prayed the night before–John 17:4– when He said that He had brought glory to God on earth by finishing (the same word, tetelestai) by finishing the work he had been given; Jesus is here declaring that His work is accomplished.
The reason He had been sent, the plan of God that was first set into motion with the very first sin in the garden and which was carried through the covenants with Abraham and Moses and David and the long history of Israel and Judah right up to the miraculous birth of Jesus and his earthly ministry—this plan has been accomplished.
“It is finished.” Jesus is putting the final stamp on His earthly ministry. There is a purpose behind His suffering. It is not in vain.
It is Fulfilled
Tetelestai. Jesus is saying that His life is over. He is handing over His spirit. And Jesus is saying His work is accomplished. He has finished the task He has been given.
There is a third sense by which this word can be understood. It is finished can also mean “it is fulfilled.”
You may have noticed, as I read the scripture passage, that I frequently repeated the phrase “”the scripture would be fulfilled.” One of the things that John wants us to know is that the things that happened to Jesus, right down to the smallest details, were predicted in the Old Testament scriptures. It is uncanny how the events of Jesus’ death correspond to what would otherwise appear to be random bits of scripture.
For example, in John 19:28 it says:
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
This would have been a normal enough thing to happen during a crucifixion. One of the consequences of the extreme torture I described last week would have been intense dehydration. It would not be unusual for Jesus to be very thirsty.
But the soldiers overseeing Jesus’ death see this not as an opportunity for compassion, but more cruelty. Verse 29 tells us:
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.
Vinegar, of course, would not relieve thirst, but increase it. Yet one more indignity Jesus suffered. But also, in the Psalms, there is a poem of lament where David describes the scorn and humiliation he is receiving from his enemies, and he includes this line:
21 They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst. (Psalm 69:21)
A random verse of scripture, and a random detail in Jesus’ death, and yet they align in a way that Jesus never could have arranged or engineered.
Or, again. Verses 31-32 of our text describe the desire of the Jews to have the bodies off the crosses before the Passover begins. The practice was to break the legs of the victims so, as I described last week, they would be unable to breathe and would die more quickly. Yet verses 33 and 34 say:
33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
Random details that show, without a doubt, that Jesus received mortal wounds that were not survivable. And yet, remarkably, even these details match things from scripture. Verse 36-37:
36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
“Not one of his bones will be broken” matches a line from Psalm 34:20. “They will look on the one they have pierced” is a quote from Zechariah 12:10. Again, apparently random lines of scripture that match up with details of Jesus’ death that could not be predicted or arranged. In fact, if you were predicting a crucifixion you would expect broken bones. A spear in the side would have been completely unusual.
The point is: Jesus' life and death match up with Old Testament prophecies in ways that are far too uncanny to be a coincidence. When John tells us that the scripture is fulfilled, he wants us to recognize that hand of God that is at work in these events.
Paid in Full
So when Jesus says “Tetelestai”, He means to say that His life is over, His work is done, and the scriptures are fulfilled.
But, even more than that, I think we need to pay attention to the way this word was used in the business world of the day. As I said earlier, tetelestai was a banking term. It’s a word used to indicate that a loan has been paid off, or that a bill has been paid. It’s like, if you had lived back then and got your credit card statement, and then you sent in your payment and they sent you a receipt, and it would look just like the earlier bill except stamped across it would be the word tetelestai—“it is finished”, paid in full.
So, when Jesus says tetelestai on the cross, He’s saying that the payment is complete. Nothing more to pay. Nothing more to owe. No debt left outstanding. No claim left to make.
When Jesus says “It is finished”, He’s saying that the price has been paid.
What’s He talking about?
He’s talking about the price of our redemption, of course.
The truth is: we all owe a debt to God. From the time we draw our first breath we are “in the red” with God. We are sinners. We are born with a sinful nature. We are born into a sinful world. And, more than that, all of us do plenty to break God’s holy law. We don’t love Him as we should. We set ourselves up as little gods in our own minds. We don’t love others as we should. We use and take advantage when we should be giving and helpful. We disrespect our parents. We lie. We cheat. We steal. We covet. We hate.
You name it, and there are people out there doing it. And we’re all guilty. We’re all sinners.
And our sin incurs debt for us with God. He’s a holy God who can’t overlook wrongdoing. And so our sins pile up debts for us with God. We owe Him. We need to atone for our guilt.
And when we ask God how we can pay off our debt—when we ask Him what we owe Him—the answer is: “There is only one way. The wages of sin is death. You’re going to have to die, not just physically, but eternally. In order for you to pay for all the sins you’ve committed in your life, you’re going to have to go to hell, and suffer there for eternity. Then, your debt to me will be paid.”
That is what you and I owe to God because of our sins.
But God didn’t want us to have to pay that debt. He didn’t want to lose us for an eternity. We are precious souls to God, precious human beings made in His image, and God loves the people He made too much to just dismiss us and send us away.
But the debt still has to be paid. God can’t just sweep all those sins under the rug. Someone has to pay.
That’s what Jesus was doing on that cross.
Many say that Jesus’ death was a huge mistake. That it’s just another example of the cruelty and inhumanity of man; and that we should learn from it to be nicer to those around us. But that’s not why He was on that cross.
Others say that Jesus died on that cross to give us an example of how to be humble, how to suffer for something you think is right. But that’s not why He was on the cross either.
He was there to pay off the debt that you and I and the rest of the world owed to God. That’s why He was willing to lay down His life. That was his purpose. From the moment He was born, throughout His life, throughout His ministry, through that trial, through that mocking and scourging and rejection and pain – through it all, Jesus always had his eyes set on that one goal.
And that one goal was to pay off that debt. The entire world owed to God an eternity’s worth of suffering. And Jesus agreed to step forward, as our substitute, and pay off that debt for us. That’s why he was dying on that cross. He was going through the suffering that you and I owe to God, because of our sin.
But then it was over. He had done it. The suffering was completed. The punishment was taken care of. Your debt was paid. And that’s why Jesus said, “Tetelestai.”
It is finished. Paid in full.
The Donuts
I heard a story once about a professor at a Christian college whose job it was to teach the Bible. He’d been teaching all semester on the New Testament, and He didn’t feel like it was getting through. He just didn’t feel like the students understood.
Then, one day, he had an idea. There was an athlete in his class, a young man named Steve. He was a standout in football and track, and he was in as good a physical shape as anyone this professor had ever seen. He called Steve aside and asked him how many push-ups he thought he could do.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Steve, “about 200.”
“That’s pretty good,” said the professor, “but do you think you could do 300?”
“Maybe,’ said Steve, “if I could take some rest breaks.”
“Sure,’ said the professor, “you’ll get some breaks.” So the professor told Steve to practice up, and told him he’d be doing the push-ups at next week’s class.
When that class time rolled around, the professor came into the class room with a couple of boxes of bakery-fresh donuts. The smell of the donuts filled the classroom. The students were elbowing each other and saying, “Hey, this guy isn’t so bad.” When the class started the professor announced that he had brought donuts for everyone, and they could just stay in their seats and he’d bring them around.
Then he walked up to a young man and asked him if he’d like a donut. The young man said, “Sure.” And the professor said, “All right, I’ll give you a donut, but first, Steve over here is going to do 10 pushups.” So Steve got down on the floor and banged out 10 pushups and the professor set the donut down.
Then he went to the next person, and asked if she’d like a donut. “Sure,” said the girl, and again the professor said, “All right, I’ll give you a donut, but first, Steve is going to do 10 more pushups.” Steve did 10 more, the students all sort of chuckled, and the professor set the donut down.
This went on the same way for the next 10 students or so. Steve did the pushups and the kids got their donuts. But Steve was starting to break a sweat. The pushups didn’t come as fast as they had before.
Then the professor got to a young man who was also on the football team. “Would you like a donut?” he asked. “Sure,” said the football player, “but I’ll do my own pushups.” “No,” said the professor, “those wouldn’t count. Only Steve can do the pushups.” And he looked at Steve, and Steve did 10 more, and the football player got his donut.
The next student, a girl, said she didn’t want a donut. “That’s fine,” said the professor, “but this is my classroom, and I want you to have a donut, so I’m going to set one here, and Steve’s going to do the pushups, and then if you want it, it will be available.” And Steve struggled through 10 more pushups.
A few more students tried to refuse the donut, but the professor kept setting them down and Steve kept doing the pushups. He was up around 270 or 280 now—way past his limit—and the sweat was running off him and his face was turning red—but he kept doing the pushups.
A few more kids walked into the class late. Everyone was there, so they were up to 33 kids. Steve was going to have to do a lot of pushups. But he kept going.
Towards the end, when the professor asked them if they wanted a donut, some of the kids started to cry. They didn’t try to refuse anymore, but it hurt them so much to watch Steve do 10 more pushups for them.
Finally, everyone had a donut. Steve had done all the pushups. And the professor looked at the class and said: “This is what I’ve been trying to teach you all semester. This is what Jesus did for you. He paid a debt you couldn’t pay. And the suffering Jesus went through was so much worse than what Steve just went through, and the prize He won was so much greater than a donut.”
Tetelestai. It is finished. Paid in full.
You never have to wonder, “What do I owe God? How do I pay for the sins I’ve committed in my life?” You never have to worry about that – Jesus paid for all those sins when he hung on the cross.
“Is there anything left for me to do, to make myself right with God?” The answer is no. Everything has been finished. Every ounce of suffering that we owe God – it’s all been paid in full.
There’s no way we could make ourselves right with God. No amount of going to church or giving to charity or being kind to strangers is going to pay our debt. No amount of Bible reading or prayer time or anything else earns our way to God.
We don’t make ourselves right with God. Jesus makes us right with God.
And if you believe in Him, and accept what He has done, then there is nothing that stands between you and God. He loves you, he forgives you, and he has a place for you in heaven. And it’s all because of Jesus, who paid our debt in full.
We do those things—we come to church and pray and we give—because we are grateful for what He has done and we want to have a relationship with Him. But we cannot pay for our sins.
The full payment for our sins was accomplished by His sacrifice. There is nothing more that we can do or could add to pay for our salvation. The debt is paid for. We can be forgiven! It is finished!
A Cry of Triumph
In my imagination, Jesus’ final word from the cross was not a feeble whisper. I don’t believe this is something He mumbled with his final death rattle.
I know that crucifixion was incredibly painful. I’ve read enough accounts of it, I’ve seen Mel Gibson’s “The Passion,” I described it last week. I know that a man who was crucified suffered enormously, that he was strangled, slowly suffocated as his body was agonizingly stretched out. I know that death by crucifixion came slowly, and those who died this way had little strength to talk.
And yet, in my imagination, Jesus’ final word from the cross was not a feeble whisper, but a loud cry. I believe this word of Jesus was a shout of victory.
Tetelestai!
It is over. It is accomplished. It is paid in full. It is won!
