Finished – March 29, 2024

Read: John 19:17-30

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30

Finished

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What’s the difference between stopping and finishing? If you don’t see any difference, here are a couple of examples. You might stop cleaning your room when you get called to eat supper, but that doesn’t mean you’ve finished cleaning your room. Or you might stop doing your homework when it’s time to go to bed, but that doesn’t mean you’ve finished doing your homework. It’s easy to stop doing something. It’s much harder to finish doing it.

Jesus had been doing something for his entire life: living in perfect obedience to God. Everything that Jesus said, did, and even thought was perfect from the very moment his life began. He never once sinned during his whole life. And then on the cross, just before his life ended, Jesus didn’t say, “I’m stopping,” or “It’s over.” No, he said something much harder, much more powerful: “It is finished.” So what did it take for Jesus to finish?

Think about everything that had just happened to Jesus, and imagine what God the Father was seeing and saying to his Son. Jesus let himself be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and God the Father said, “That’s a start, but it’s not near enough.” Jesus was put on trial and made fun of and beaten, and God the Father said, “It must continue.” Jesus was sentenced to die and forced to carry his cross to Calvary, and God the Father said, “It’s getting close, but it’s not quite there.”

And then as Jesus was on the cross, he suffered in a way that no one had ever suffered before. God the Father didn’t say anything to his Son, because he didn’t see his Son there on the cross. Instead, he saw your sin, and my sin, and the sin of the whole world. He punished Jesus for every single sin ever committed. Until all those sins were paid for, and God the Father was satisfied, and he saw his Son again. A Son whose father had one more thing to say to him: “Yes, it is finished. Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Jesus didn’t just stop living. He finished his life—perfectly. Because he finished, one day your life will be finished too. One day you’ll get to see Jesus and live with him forever in heaven. And one day you’ll get to hear those same beautiful words from God the Father: “Yes, it is finished. Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Closing Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for doing everything that was necessary to perfectly finish your life. Keep my faith strong during my life and always remind me of your perfect sacrifice for me. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• What’s something that would be easy for you to stop doing but hard to finish doing?
• What did Jesus say on the cross just before he died?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• What’s the difference between stopping and finishing?
• Why is it so important that Jesus said, “It is finished,” rather than “I’m stopping”?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• Think back over the events of Jesus’ life. What times can you think of when it would have been particularly hard for him to live perfectly?
• How can you live during your time on this earth so that your life will truly be finished at its end?