‘He gave his life for strangers. He must have known that he didn’t really have a chance. If that doesn’t make him a hero, I don’t know what would.’
Those words formed part of the tribute paid to the French policeman Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, who died last Friday. An Islamist terrorist had taken people hostage in a supermarket in southern France. And Arnaud traded places with one of the hostages. He took her place, and died in her stead. And on Wednesday, he was honoured with a national memorial service.
A new national hero was recognised. Here’s what the French President said of Arnaud: ‘To be willing to die so that innocent people continue to live, this is the heart of a soldier’s promise.’
Tonight, we have heard again the story of the first Good Friday. The betrayal, the arrest, the denial, the trial, the flogging, the condemnation, and the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. What was it all for? Why did Jesus die? What makes Good Friday good?
The answer comes in the very last words that John records before Jesus gives up his spirit. All week we’ve been focusing on the famous last words of Jesus, and tonight we hear his very last words spoken on the cross. Three words in English, one word in the Greek: ‘It is finished.’
But what does he mean? Does he mean ‘I’m finished’? It might look as if Jesus has given up, that he’s been beaten and broken, and he is finished. But that’s not what he means.
Perhaps he is referring to the wine vinegar he had been given. Verse 30 says: ‘When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”’ Was he saying that he had finished taking a drink - just like you might say ‘all done’ when a baby finishes a bottle? That’s not what he means either.
The clue to what Jesus means comes a little further back in verse 28. ‘Later, knowing that all was not completed...’ That word completed is the same word that Jesus says when he says ‘It is finished.’ So what he has completed? What is finished?
Jesus is saying that his work of salvation has been completed. The saving work that Jesus came to do has been finished. And the scale and scope of his work shows just how wondrous the cross is.
Arnaud, the French policeman, gave his life for strangers, but the Lord Jesus died for people he knew and loved - people like you and me, known by Jesus, and loved by Jesus. And while that’s a wonderful comfort, to be known by Jesus, and loved by Jesus, it also highlights just how amazing his death for us really is.
Remember what was said about Arnaud by the French President? ‘To be willing to die so that innocent people continue to live...’ The amazing truth about Jesus’ death for us is that he knows us - as we really are. None of us could be described as innocent. Jesus was - ‘I find no basis for a charge against him’ said Pilate - but he couldn’t say that about us.
Jesus died to pay the debt we could not pay. He died in our place for our sins. And as he dies, Jesus says ‘It is finished.’ That word, tetelestai, was the word written on an invoice to show that the bill had been paid in full. Completed. Paid in full.
Perhaps you’ve been in a shop with a dangerous looking device on the counter. A spike, or nail, pointing upwards. And whenever a bill is paid, the bill is put on the nail. It’s finished. It’s been satisfied, it’s been completed. Paid in full.
Our sins, however many, however serious, have been paid in full, as Jesus was nailed to the cross. These famous last words of Jesus aren’t a cry of defeat or disappointment. No, they are a cry of victory. Jesus has completed the work he came to do - to die for a world of lost sinners - to die for you and me.
May you know the joy of sins forgiven. Your burden lifted. The price paid, as Jesus says, ‘It is finished.’
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Good Friday 30th March 2018.
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