“The Word of Victory” : John 19:30

What kind of victory is this? With sour wine still dripping from his parched lips, Jesus is at the finish line of his life. He has “run the race” for 33 years, and now his earthly journey is over. With only his beloved mother and the disciple whom he especially loved standing nearby, Jesus comes to the end of his days betrayed, abandoned, stripped of his clothing and dignity, and left to die by torture. And now, lingering on the threshold between life and death, he breathes these three most astonishing words: It is finished.

Jesus knows what kind of victory this is, even as he breathes his last. What appeared as total and utter defeat to anyone in the vicinity of Golgotha, the place of the skull — perhaps even to the two people he loved the most standing right there — was actually the culmination, the pinnacle, the fulfilling of his purpose, the accomplishing of his mission, literally the completion of his work.

Earlier in the Gospel of John, we hear in no uncertain terms what Jesus’ work and mission was to be: from the 3rd chapter, those verses we know so well which belong at the very heart of this day and this victorious moment in the story: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Sisters and brothers, this is the moment for which Jesus came. It was for this moment the angels lit up the night sky over Bethelem on the night of his birth with their jubilant song of praise, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to God’s people on earth.” It was for this moment that the Word became flesh and came to dwell among us, full of grace and truth. It was for this moment God sent the Son to the world: to love the world by becoming one with the world, by taking on our humanity, by reconciling God and us once-and-for-all, for all eternity.

In St Paul’s letter to the ancient church in Colossae, he writes “In him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to Godself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross.”

In this very human moment of his own death, Jesus knows and embodies the very peace God is making with the world.

In this poignant moment at his life’s end, Jesus rests in the love with which God is embracing the whole world in his death.

In this passionate moment at the finish line — with suffering his closest companion — Jesus wins the victory for you and for me, and for the world, the final victory over sin, death, and the power of all evil. For us and for our salvation.

So that now, in the confident words of St. Julian of Norwich which echo these last reverberating words of Jesus, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

And now we can sing, in the words of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death; vict’ry is ours, through God who loves us.”

It is finished. Salvation is for every child of earth. Salvation is yours. Thanks be to God.