It is finished!

After this, aware that everything was finished, in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He handed over the spirit.”

-John 19:28-30

These two verses may be the most potent, and important, words in all of Sacred Scripture. Dr. Scott Hahn wrote, “The meaning of history comes down to 33 years: Jesus’ life. The purpose of His life came in 3 years: His public ministry. The goal of His ministry came in 3 days: the Holy Triduum. The climax of His sacrifice came in 3 hours: the Cross. The result of Jesus’ passion and death came in three words, ‘It is finished.’” This is literally the moment which the whole world has been waiting for, which Our Lord, speaking to St. Faustina Kowalska referred to as “the hour of great mercy for the whole world.”

Every human being is born with a God-given purpose, and every human being dies, but Jesus was the only person ever born whose purpose was to die. He was sent to Earth on a mission: to “free His people from their sins” by dying on the Cross. Essentially, in saying “It is finished,” Jesus is proclaiming triumphantly, “Mission Accomplished!” (In fact, “It is accomplished” is an alternate, and perhaps more meaningful, translation of the text.)

               It is clear throughout the Gospels that Jesus is aware of His destiny, and accepts it, but that does not mean that He did not wish there could be another way. He does not want to die, but He is willing to do so out of love for humanity and obedience to His Father. The second reading from the Good Friday liturgy also states, In the days when Christ was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. (Hebrews 5:7)  In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed three times, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will. (Matthew 26:39)

               It is interesting that Christ refers to His Passion as a “cup.” Immediately prior to this, at the Last Supper, we read in Matthew’s Gospel: “I tell you, from now on, I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” Then after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:29) This is important, because normally at the Passover Seder meal, such as the Last Supper, the hymn was followed by another cup called the cup of consummation. Jesus skips this. Furthermore, when Jesus is about to be crucified, He is offered “wine drugged with a myrrh,” (Mark 15:23) to deaden the pain. Jesus refuses this. It is not until He is about to die that Jesus cries out, “I thirst,” and takes the wine. 

               The Latin for “It is finished” is consummatum est.  Jesus skipped the “cup of consummation” because His entire Passion was His “cup of consummation.” This is why St. John tells us that these things occurred “in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” Just as the sacrifice of the Passover lamb inaugurated God’s covenant with the Israelites and freed them from slavery in Egypt, the sacrifice of the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” fulfills this covenant, makes it new, and frees us from the slavery of sin. 

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee; because by Thy Holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world!

 - Thomas McIntyre