As Christians mark Good Friday, Wallace Benn reflects from John 19v16-42 on what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
1 - HE CREATED A COMMUNITY OF LOVE: "WOMAN BEHOLD YOUR SON! / BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER!" (JOHN 12v27)
There is a very moving scene at the foot of the cross, described for us by John who was himself present (19v25-27). Jesus' selfless care for others is on full display. Despite his own intense suffering, he is concerned for those standing faithfully by him. Mary especially must have felt devastated. There is nothing worse for a parent than to see their child die in front of their eyes, and before their own death. Jesus, whom she had carried and cared for as a child, her very special and unique son, whose birth and life had been so full of hope and joy, now crucified and dying a horrible death. Aware of her pain, and knowing now how much she would need care, Jesus says to her, "Woman behold your son!" and to his "beloved disciple" (John), "Behold your mother".
Mary was probably widowed by this time, and would have depended on her firstborn son for support and protection. That role Jesus now delegates to John, "And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (19v27). His selfless love was creating a community of loving care, a family of followers, whose members would try to emulate the care of their Lord by displaying the same kind of selfless care for one another and those who were in need. No believer, Jesus knew, was meant to exist on their own, so he created a fellowship, a church, to provide the necessary support.
Modern people, the surveys tell us, are not only "anxious" but also very "lonely", in spite of all the social media, which fails to create real community. Here is Jesus' answer — as we shall see — firstly, the creation of a new relationship with God, and then the creation of a fellowship of believers as our support group to nurture, help and encourage us in the ups and downs of life. What a blessing! And what a reminder to every Christian congregation of believers, how they are meant to relate to one another!
2 - HE FINISHED THE WORK THAT GOD THE FATHER HAD SENT HIM TO DO:"IT IS FINISHED" (19v30)
It is always wonderful when an important job gets done! And there is none more important than what Jesus had achieved! Notice the care with which John speaks of Jesus' death. He tells us that Jesus died only when all had been fulfilled that Scripture had predicted, and when he knew that his job of atonement (reconciling God and mankind) had been completed and done (19v28f). His cry, "It is finished" is not "I am finished", but rather a triumphant cry at the end of a job well done! John also observes and carefully notes the reversal of what usually happens. He did not die and his head therefore fall, as would normally be the case, but rather he deliberately "bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (19v30). He willingly gave his life says John, because nobody could have taken it from him had he not willed it to be so. To the very last, Jesus is Lord and in control!
Why crucifixion ?
If we are to understand all that Jesus achieved by his death, we must first ask a question —"Why were the Jewish leaders so adamant that Jesus needed to be crucified?" After all, any kind of death would have got rid of him! But they knew what the Law said, "If a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God" (Deuteronomy 21v22,23). In their rage, they wanted to show that Jesus was cursed by God because of the kind of death he died.
3 - HE TOOK THE CURSE
What they had not grasped was what the apostle Paul so powerfully stated later, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" (Galatians 3v13).
Jesus perfectly fulfilled the prediction of the prophet Isaiah, some seven hundred years earlier, as to what the coming messianic Servant would do:
"Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep have strayed away.
We have left God's paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all." (Isaiah 53v4-6, NLT)
Jesus stood in for us as our perfect sin-bearing substitute, taking on his holy shoulders all that God on the Day of Judgement could fairly and legitimately hold against us, for all that we have thought, said and done that has been wrong and has offended a holy God. He carried the penalty of our sin for us, so that we might be forgiven and go free! The word τετέλεσται ("tetelestai"), translated, "It is finished" was sometimes written on a discharged bill and meant "Paid in full". Jesus paid the price in full for our reconciliation with God. He made it possible for us to have a restored relationship with God now, to know his presence and strength through life, and one day inherit heaven with him.
Paul sums it all up brilliantly: "The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," (Galatians 2v20).
That amazing love of Jesus for him personally had captured Paul's heart, and it ought to capture ours also!
Another thing needs to be noted. Jesus had really died, and the Roman soldiers who were expert executioners, knew that (19v33) To be absolutely sure they pierced his side with a spear, and John tells us that "at once there came out blood and water" (19v34). This probably means that the spear pierced the heart of Jesus releasing blood and also water from the sack around the heart (pericardium). This is proof positive that Jesus had really died, and that any idea that he was in a coma later to revive is just nonsense.
However, John is also very observant of significant symbolism. He later comments that Jesus came "by water and blood" probably referring to his ministry which began at his baptism, and his death which was the atonement for our sins (l John 5v6-8). There he reminds us that God testified to his Son at his baptism, and later by raising him from the dead, to display his approval of all that Jesus' life and death had accomplished.
But water has often been mentioned in his Gospel, symbolising the cleansing and new life that Jesus came to bring. For example: "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'." And John explains, "Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive," (John 7v37-391 His death made possible the renewing life-giving work of the Holy Spirit in those who open their hearts and lives to Jesus, and trust in all that he has done for them.
From Tragedy to Triumph
In John's Gospel too, the death of Jesus (his blood shed) is not the tragic end of an otherwise great life. Normal biographies end with the death of the subject. Rather it is his crowning glory, for it was for that supreme purpose that he came, to fulfil God's will, and accomplish God's rescue plan for those in the human race who would now turn to his Son.
About his coming death Jesus had said, a short time before: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (John 12v23). Jesus was much less the victim of Calvary, and much more the victor!
My daughter, who is a teacher, at one time taught a reception class in which was a particular little boy. He was on an autistic spectrum, and he found socials skills difficult. If he went missing he could usually be found away from the others in the tent in the corner of the classroom, reading. One day they went on a school outing, and were playing in a field. From across the field my daughter heard him shouting, "Help, Help!" As she looked over she saw him terrified by a large wasp that was circling and threatening him. Jessica shouted across the field, wisely, "Stay still, I'm coming!" So, she rushed across the field, and when she got near, batted the wasp away. But as she did so the wasp stung her under the arm and she said "Ouch!" When the wasp had gone, the little boy said to Jessica, "Do you love me?" "Yes," she answered, "l love all the children in my class". He replied, "You must love me, because you took the sting for me!"
Jessica later discovered that when he went home he told his Mum, and then everyone important to him by phone, "My teacher loves me, because she took the sting for me!" The next day when he saw Jessica, he ran up to her, hugged her and said, "Thank you for taking the sting for me!" At morning break time, his Mum came into school to see Jessica, who was a little worried about what she wanted. But she said to Jessica, "Thank you so much for what you did for my son, he is a transformed little boy, he now tells everyone that his teacher loves him and took the sting for him!"
John tells us in these chapters about a much greater One who took the sting of death for us, because he loved us. That love responded to, will bring about a joyful transformation in our lives too! The apostle Paul wrote, quoting from the prophet Hosea:
"Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15v54-57)
That's why Christians call the day of Jesus' crucifixion "Good Friday"!
John was later to write, as an old man: "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen"! (Revelation 1v5,6).
This is an extract from Wallace Benn's book, "In His Words - From John 18-21" (Parke Publications)
