A reflection for Good Friday, reflecting on Jesus’ words from the Cross ‘It is Finished’. It has been written from the point of view of a follower of Jesus.

Suggested Scripture: Mark 15:1-41 or John 18:28-19:37

Written 28 March 2024

‘It is finished!’
Those were his words –
‘It is finished!’.

Tonight, I feel lost, confused –
our Teacher, his journey, his life is finished.
Our life journeying with him –
it’s all we’ve known these last three years,
now finished.

Everything has happened so very fast –
from when he left last night for his prayer time.
The situation seemed to spiral out of our control,
as authorities acted at last to regain theirs.
His time, drawing the attention of the crowds,
finished.

The trial – it happened so fast –
he’s condemned,
he’s mocked,
he’s beaten,
and he’s led to die in public disgrace.
But all his suffering is ended,
less than a day later –
our teacher has died.
It is finished!

But memories of his words begin to appear,
they are lights flooding the darkness of my mind.
Words of hope…
and words of promise…
After three days, he will rise again…*
He is going to prepare a place for me,
and for all who believe in him…**
These and so many more words –
is it really finished…
or have our lives actually just begun?

‘It is finished!’
But what is finished?
I’m not the same person as I was –
none of us are.
All of us have been changed,
and we’ll never go back to being who we were.

In his death as in his life,
Jesus has taken with him the weights we carry,
the fears that have ruled us,
the oppression we feel from others –
We are free, at last, to be sons and daughters of God,
exactly as we were made to be.
It Is Finished,
and yet,
it is only just beginning!’

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• ‘It is Finished’ – John 19:30
• * Mark 8:31 (paraphrased)
• ** John 14:3 (paraphrased)