It is finished! – a sermon on Good Friday on John 19:16b-30 by Rev. Colin Pretorius.

It is the Day of Preparation – the day before the Sabbath – almost 2000 years ago. Across Judea, life goes on as normal. People eat and drink as they would any other day. In the marketplaces people barter as they always do. Women give birth and children play outside. People die – that’s just part of life. But just outside of Jerusalem, a man would die gruesomely. And His death on the cross would have an impact not just on those who were present or on family and friends, but on the whole of creation. For this was no mere man – this was God the Son, come to earth to redeem His people.  It was Jesus – the One through whom and for whom everything was created – who would die on the cross, to settle the account for your sin and for mine. God’s great love for His people led to His Son’s death on the cross. On that cross, the account was paid – it was settled, fully and finally, with no more to do. But the settlement of that bill came at a huge cost. For Jesus it came at the cost of separation from the Father.

This morning’s text tells us about how that account has been settled. It tells us of the last minutes of Jesus’ life. He’s been sentenced to death, He’s been scorned, beaten and rejected, and now He’s hanging on a cross, dying the death of a criminal. And in these final minutes, before He breathes His last breath, He utters the words “It is finished.” “It is finished”. This morning we’re going to look at why Jesus said that and why He could say it. As we do this we’ll see that

• Jesus didn’t say “You’re finished”;
• Jesus also didn’t say “I’m finished”; instead
• Jesus said “It is finished.”

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