When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.
On the other side, there was a garden and he and his disciples went into it.
Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place because Jesus had often met there with his
disciples.
So Judas came to the garden guiding and a detachment of soldiers and some officials
from the church, priests, and the Pharisees.
They were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons.
Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them,
Who is it you want?
Jesus of Nazareth.
They replied, I am he, Jesus said.
And Judas, the traitor, was standing there with them.
When Jesus said, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground.
Again, he asked them, Who is it you want?
Jesus of Nazareth, they said.
Jesus answered, I told you that I am he.
If you are looking for me, then let these men go.
This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled.
I have not lost one of those you gave me.
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant cutting
off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus.
Jesus commanded Peter, put your sword away.
Shall I not drink the cup the father has given me?
Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus.
They bound him and brought him first to Annas.
Who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year?
Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died
for the people.
Simon Peter and another disciple who were following Jesus, because this disciple was
known to the high priest.
He went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at
the door.
The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl
on duty there and brought Peter in.
You aren't one of this man's disciples too, are you?
She asked Peter.
He replied, I am not.
It was cold and the servants and the officials stood around a fire.
They had made to keep warm.
Peter also was standing with them warming himself.
Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teachings.
I have spoken openly to the world, Jesus replied.
I always taught in synagogues or at the temple where all the Jews come together.
I said nothing in secret.
Why question me?
Ask those who heard me.
Surely they know what I said.
When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face.
Is this the way you answer the high priest?
He demanded.
If I said something wrong, Jesus replied, testify as to what is wrong.
But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?
The Annas sent him down to Caiaphas, the high priest.
Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself.
So they asked him, you aren't one of his disciples too, are you?
He denied it.
I am not.
One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged
him.
Didn't I see you with him in the garden?
Again, Peter denied it.
And at that moment, a rooster began to crow.
And the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor.
By now it was early morning.
And to avoid ceremonial uncleanliness, they did not enter the palace because they wanted
to be able to eat the Passover.
So Pilate came out to them and asked, what charges are you bringing against this man?
If he were not a criminal, they replied, we would not have handed him over to you.
Pilate said, take him yourself and judge him by your own law.
But we have no right to execute anyone, they objected.
This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going
to die.
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, are you the King of Jews?
Is that your own idea, Jesus asked?
Or did others talk to you about me?
Am I a Jew?
Pilate replied, your own people and chief priests handed you over to me.
What is it you have done?
Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world.
If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders.
But now my kingdom is from another place.
You are King then, said Pilate.
Jesus answered, you say that I am a King.
In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.
Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
What is truth, retorted Pilate.
With this, he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, I find no basis for a charge
against him.
But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover.
Do you want me to release the King of the Jews?
They shouted back, no, not him.
Give us Barabbas.
Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.
They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again saying, hail King
of the Jews.
And they slapped him in the face.
Once more, Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, look, I am bringing him
out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.
When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them,
here is the man.
As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, crucify, crucify.
But Pilate answered, you take him and crucify him.
As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.
The Jewish leaders insisted, we have a law and according to that law he must die because
he claimed to be the son of God.
When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid and he went back inside the palace.
Where do you come from, he asked Jesus.
But Jesus gave him no answer.
Do you refuse to speak to me, Pilate said?
Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?
Jesus answered, you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.
Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.
From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, if you
let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.
Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.
When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place
known as the stone pavement, which in Aramaic is Gabatha.
It was the day of preparation of the Passover.
It was about noon.
Here is your king, Pilate said to the Jews, but they shouted, take him away, take him
away, crucify him.
Shall I crucify your king, Pilate asked?
We have no king but Caesar, the chief priest answered.
Finally, Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
He went out to the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
There they crucified him and with him two others, one on each side and Jesus in the
middle.
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross.
It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
Many of the Jews read this sign for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city
and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews,
but this man claimed to be king of the Jews.
Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written.
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares,
one for each of them with the undergarment remaining.
This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
Let's not tear it, they said to one another.
Let's decide by lot who will get it.
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, they divided my clothes
among them and cast lots for my garment.
So this is what the soldiers did.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to
her, woman, here is your son and to the disciple, here is your mother.
From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished and so that scripture would be fulfilled,
Jesus said, I am thirsty.
A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk
of the hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, it is finished.
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Now it was the day of preparation and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.
Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath,
we asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.
The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified
with Jesus and then those of the other.
But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they didn't break his
legs.
Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow
of blood and water.
The man who saw it has given testimony and his testimony is true.
He knows that he tells the truth and he testifies so that you also may believe.
These things happen so that the scripture would be fulfilled.
Not one of his bones will be broken.
And as another scripture says, they will look on the one they have pierced.
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.
Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.
With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.
He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier has visited Jesus at night.
Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds.
Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices and strips of linen.
This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb
in which no one had ever been laid.
Because it was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus
there.
The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a saying out there that goes like this and the saying says, you know, it's not
what you say but it's how you say it.
Which means that the way we say something actually can communicate as much or even more
than the actual words that we're using to say it.
So your tone, your volume, your body language, these things can greatly influence the message
that you're trying to communicate in the message that is being received by others.
Let me just give you a few examples of what I'm talking about.
Let's say for example, someone were to say, or I were to say the words, I'm fine.
Now if I were to say these words with a cheerful tone and a smile, I'm fine.
Then it communicates that actually I'm pretty content and I'm happy.
But if I were instead to say, I'm fine, then actually it communicates just the opposite.
I'm not fine.
I'm not content.
I'm not happy.
And maybe I don't even want to talk about it.
Right?
It's all how you say it.
Or take this one for example.
That's interesting.
Now if you communicate this with a certain amount of excitement, oh, that's interesting.
It says that you're curious and you're genuinely interested.
But if you say it with sarcasm and a bit of a dismissive tone like, that's interesting,
then it actually says, I'm not that interested and I'd rather not talk about this and I'm
skeptical about what you're about to tell me.
Here's another one.
I'm sorry.
If you say these words with genuine remorse in your voice, I am so sorry, then it really
does communicate an apology.
But if you say it and you have no remorse, like geez, sorry, then actually it communicates
just the opposite.
You're not sorry at all.
And my point is this.
It's not just what we say.
It's how we say it.
It makes a huge difference how we say things.
It is really important for us to understand that fact when we come to today to Good Friday.
Because on Good Friday, Jesus says a whole lot of words to us and some very important
words.
And these words are words we need to hear and we need to understand.
Absolutely for sure.
But in order to actually fully understand what it is Jesus is saying to us, we have
to understand not just what he's saying, but how he is saying it.
You see, all that long, we have been looking at Jesus famous last words, the last words
that Jesus spoke as he hung dying on the cross.
But today we come to his final, final words.
You know, these are perhaps some of the most famous final words ever spoken in all of human
history.
You may not even go to church that often or that, but you probably still have heard these
famous last words of Jesus.
So important, so powerful to understand.
But in order to figure out what these last words of Jesus mean, we need to know not just
what he said, but we also have to know how he said it.
So let's start with the easiest question.
What did Jesus say?
What were those final last words that he spoke?
Well, I think if you've, you know, whether or not you've been to church, you've probably
heard and we just heard in the reading this morning that according to the gospel writer
John, when Jesus came to the end of his life, the final words he spoke were this.
It is finished.
He spoke these words.
It is finished.
And then he breathed his last.
So there you go.
That is the what.
That is what Jesus said his final last words.
But that of course is only half the answer, right?
Half the story.
It's one thing to know what he said, but it's another to know how he said it.
How did he say these words?
Because the way he said it changes drastically what these words actually mean.
It can mean very, very different things.
So for example, if Jesus said the words this way, it's finished.
It's over.
It's done.
Then you know what?
He's saying these words as a man who is completely defeated, a man who is going out of this life
with a whimper.
He's despairing and he's dying.
My hopes are shattered.
My dreams are dashed.
My plans have all come to ruin.
It's finished.
I'm finished.
It's all just finished.
Is that how he said it?
Is that how those words sounded?
I have to be honest to you, for many years, that's exactly how I thought it sounded.
I thought that in this moment when we heard Jesus speak these words, what we were seeing
is we were seeing Jesus at the very bottom.
This was Jesus at his weakest and most desperate and most forlorn and miserable moment.
Jesus' life is just ebbing out of him and he manages to say, it is finished.
That's how I used to think these words sounded.
But I don't think that anymore.
Over these past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to do a bit more studying and looking into
these final words of Jesus.
And I've come to a different conclusion.
I've actually come to realize that the scriptures tell us not just what Jesus said, it is finished,
but they actually do tell us how he said it.
And how did Jesus say these famous last words?
Well, I'd never really noticed it before, but if you put it all together, it's pretty
clear.
Here's the amazing thing.
He shouted these last words.
He shouted them.
You see, Matthew tells us that when Jesus had cried out in a loud voice, he gave up
his spirit.
He shouted at the very end.
And Mark tells us that Jesus let out a loud cry and then he breathed his last.
So Matthew and Mark, they say, hey, listen, let me tell you something.
We saw this, we heard about this, and man, oh man, it was amazing.
Right at the very end, the last thing Jesus said, it was loud.
He shouted it.
He yelled it.
Now, it's interesting.
Matthew and Mark don't tell us what he said.
They just tell us how he said it.
John, on the other hand, comes along and tells us what he said.
It is finished.
It's finished.
Now, there's a little more to this.
And that is, it is finished is actually just one word in Aramaic, the language that Jesus
would have spoken.
And it's actually just one word in Greek, the language that the New Testament is written
in.
And that one word was this Greek word, tetelestai, tetelestai.
And it means to complete something, means to finish something.
So let's put it all together, folks.
When you put what was said together with how it was said and realizing that it really was
just one word that was said, then I think this is probably more how it sounded.
Completed, finished, done, tetelestai, finished.
That's very different, isn't it?
That's a very different sound.
It's all in how you say it.
And if Jesus said it that way, finished, well, that means this is not a cry of defeat.
Oh, I'm finished.
No, no, it's a cry of victory.
And that means that actually then Good Friday, what we're doing here today, Good Friday is
not just a sad and solemn day, but it's actually a day of celebration of some sort, some sort
of accomplishment.
Something's been finished, finished, done.
Mission accomplished.
You see, months earlier, Jesus had been talking that he was on this mission, right?
He was doing something.
He began talking about the part of his mission was going to be that he was going to go and
suffer and he was going to die.
And then he was going to rise from the dead.
In fact, halfway through Luke's gospel, he says, hey, listen, the son of man, me, must
suffer many things and must be rejected and he must be killed.
And on the third day he'll be raised to life.
And then we're told that Jesus resolutely set his face towards Jerusalem.
His friends said, no, Jesus, you can't go and die.
No, Jesus, you're misunderstanding.
That's not the mission.
But Jesus says, no, you don't understand the mission.
This is my mission.
So as strange as it is, Jesus says, this is my fate.
This is where I'm going.
This is where the story goes.
And so when Jesus says finish, he's completing what he started.
It's not a cry of agony.
It's a cry of completion, the cry of accomplishment.
See it's not just what Jesus said.
It's how he said it.
I mean, I hope you guys are starting to see that it's all about the how.
Hey, you want it.
You want to know how Jesus said this?
Let me give you a few examples.
Jesus said this like a servant would say it, like a servant who had just completed a task
for his master.
And the servant would go back to the master and he would say, Hey, master, to tell us
I finished, it's all done.
I've done what you asked me to do.
That's how Jesus said it.
He's the ultimate servant, right?
He served others.
He laid his life down for others.
And at the end, he says to the father, father, to tell us die.
It's all finished, completed.
The work is done that you gave me to do.
That's how he said it.
You want to know how he said it?
Jesus said it like a soldier, like a soldier who is returning from battle where, where
the soldiers had been victorious.
And as he's walking back into town and he's waving to the townspeople, he's saying to
tell us die finished, completed victory, victory to tell us die.
That's how Jesus says it.
He says it, not giving the last gasp of a worn out life.
He says it, declaring victory over evil, victory over sin and death.
That's how he says it.
Or hey, you want to know how Jesus is saying this?
We know what he said.
You want to know how Jesus says it?
He says it like an artist, like an artist who has been working on this great painting,
this great work of art, this great sculpture that has taken so, so long.
And now that it's finally done, the artist, she stands back and she looks at it and she
says to tell us die.
It's done.
It's beautiful.
It's amazing.
It's finished.
That's how Jesus said it.
See, Jesus, God has been working this wonderful work of art, this wonderful tapestry, God's
plan to save the world from the beginning of God's story to the very end.
And Jesus' death is the final stroke in that work of art in God's masterpiece, to tell
us die.
Right?
It's finished and it's good.
That's how he said it.
Well, how about this?
What if he said it like a prisoner?
That's how he said it.
He said it like a prisoner, like a prisoner whose time is finally up after being in jail.
A Roman citizen was put in jail.
There was a notice posted by his cell that would say how long he had to serve and what
his crimes were.
But then eventually one day the judge would walk into the prison and he would take that
down and he would scratch out the bottom and he would write at the bottom of the certificate
of debt, he would write to tell us die, to tell us die.
And the prisoner would grab that and he would yell to tell us die.
It's finished.
My time is finished.
I'm a freed prisoner.
And that's what Jesus is saying.
That's how he's saying it.
Because we now are freed prisoners.
He, Jesus has paid a price that we never could have paid by ourself and he's paid it on our
behalf and he has freed us and set us free from the prison of our sins and so on.
Tell us die.
Freedom finished.
That's how.
That's how he said it.
Hey, if you still don't know how, remember you got to know how.
Maybe he said it like this.
Maybe he said it like a merchant would say at a shopkeeper.
People come into his store and they say, I'll take a little bit of oil and I'll take some
grain and I'll take a length of rope.
And when they go and they add it all up, the merchant gives it to the customer.
The customer gives the merchant some money.
And then the merchant, the shopkeeper would write at the bottom, tell us die.
Paid in full.
Nothing else is left owing.
Have a great day.
To tell us die.
That's how it sounded.
Or here you really want to know.
Let's end with this one.
You really want to know how it sounded?
I think it sounded like God sounded when the creator who made this amazing world, we're
told that on the sixth day he finished it.
He completed the work and then he rested.
To tell us die.
It's finished.
And now Jesus on the sixth day of the week, Jesus too has completed his work, not of creating
the world, but of redeeming the world.
And so Jesus can sit down and he can say to tell us die.
It's finished.
The work is done.
Do you understand?
It is not just what you say.
It is how you say it.
The how is so, so, so important, but we're not quite done just yet because it's something
else we still need to know.
And that is how do you say it?
When you say it's finished, how do you say it?
Because there's actually more than one way.
There's actually two main ways that people say these words.
It is finished.
You see a lot of people, they go about their life and they say it like this.
It's finished.
They live their life like they're defeated.
They live lives of guilt.
They live lives of shame, lives of fear.
They live lives of condemnation.
They feel so beat up by life that everything they do and everything they say, it just seems
to communicate, gosh, it's finished.
We hear our past say to us, it's finished.
We hear people say to us, you're finished.
We hear that voice in our head saying, you're not good enough.
You're not attractive enough.
You're not smart enough.
You're not successful enough.
You're finished.
And we believe those voices.
I'm finished.
It's finished.
That's how some people say it.
Or maybe there's some stuff that's happened in your life in the past.
You had some very bad breaks and some people hurt you.
You experienced some really unfair situations and you carry that bitterness with you and
you carry that loneliness with you and that anger wherever you go and you live a life
that is like defeated and despairing and discouraged and disappointed and depressed.
And so you know how we say it?
We say it's finished.
My hope is finished.
My joy is finished.
I'm finished.
That's how some people say it.
Is that how you say it?
Because that's not how we should say it.
At least that's not how we should say it anymore.
Because when Jesus said finished, he wasn't just talking about his victory.
He was talking about yours as well.
When Jesus says finished, he wasn't just talking about his amazing purpose.
He was talking about you too.
When Jesus said it's all done to tell us die, he wasn't just talking to himself.
He was talking to you.
He was talking to me.
He was saying that guilt you feel finished.
Those hurts finished.
The anger, the bitterness, that inadequacy you feel finished, finished, finished.
Instead of lamenting all your problems and your addictions and your troubles and saying,
I guess this is just the way I'm going to have to live my life.
I'm finished.
No, that's not how you say it now.
Now you say it this way.
You announce to your addictions finished.
You announce to your hurts finished.
You announce to those things that control you finished.
Those habits, you don't control me anymore.
Those hurts, you don't hold sway over me anymore.
It's finished, right?
Christ has redeemed me.
You're finished.
The price has been paid.
I am free.
I am clean.
I am whole.
Finished, finished, finished, finished.
You can tell the past finished.
You can tell the pain finished.
Tell your worries.
That is not who I am anymore.
Finished.
And those voices, those voices that are constantly telling you, oh, you're not good enough.
You're not attractive enough, smart enough.
You can shout right back at them.
You can shout back at them.
Finished.
I know who I am.
You're finished.
It's finished.
I'm a child of God.
I'm redeemed by Jesus Christ.
You can say with the apostle Paul, thanks be to God who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Finished.
You can say in all things, we are more than conquerors through him who has loved us.
Finished.
To Telestai.
It's not what you say, my friends.
It's how you say it.
And so tell me, what is it you are living with today?
What is it you are going through today that you need to say, finished?
Not I am finished, but it is finished.
How you say it makes all the difference.
And because Christ has said it, we can say it too.
Because you know what?
His victory is our victory.
His future is now our future.
And that means his words are our words too.
Complete.
Accomplished.
Finished.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.