John 19 - 3.26.26
Scripture - John 19: 28-30
“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.”
Observation (s):
“The most beaten, broken, and bruised body of Jesus is the One most glorified.” I will never forget when my professor at PLNU said this to a class of about 20 students. The way the atmosphere shifted, the silence was holy, and the tension surrounding our viewpoint on the cross arose because we all simultaneously realized that the cross and crucifixion of Jesus was not just part of our faith and walk with Christ but it was the epicenter of it. Before this moment, I did not see the crucified Jesus as the easiest portion of the gospel story to embrace, but after personally being embraced by the beauty of His suffering in relation to ours - I have never been the same.
Jesus Christ was most glorified when He was beaten, broken, and bruised for the sake of humanity, receiving companionship in suffering, salvation, hope, restoration, healing, and a forever friend. His body going into suffering being an act of solidarity with physical suffering faced by humanity and an incredible and selfless act of servitude towards us whom God loved so much. God loving us so much that He needed to have a price paid, in order to bring us full home to Him. When Jesus Christ endured the cross, He did not endure the drastic beating and intrinsic death He did for no purpose, but rather every bruise and every nail and every lash had a purpose of giving us a confidante in suffering as well as taking on suffering that was originally destined for us. His body, broken, beaten, and bruised was the one most glorified because it was the evident image of what God desired and needed to do in order to attain relationship and proximity with His children again after sin and darkness separated us.
If people were to ask me my favorite thing to talk about in relation to the gospel, with zero hesitation, I would answer: “the detail and the intricacy of the cross.” This past week, I have been teaching the youth how the cross is not just a part of our faith, but Jesus being sent to the cross and His death, is the epicenter of our existence as Christians and followers of Him.
The climax of the moment of the cross lies in the lines “It is finished.” How loving and compassionate Jesus is to care to use his final words, his final breath, to let us know for all of eternity that the battle He had faced through the cross had not just been won, but every battle after His death, that His followers would face, is finished. Freedom from a solo fight is found in Jesus’ final words: “It is finished.” A freedom not achieved by us, but received through the cross. We are freed from fighting our battles alone as Jesus endured suffering out of compassion and desire to become our cornerstone and companion in darkness as well as freeing us from being in the place to earn victory over darkness. Because in that moment — the Messiah, fully God and fully man, declared, “It is finished”— which is when darkness didn’t just weaken - it fully lost its power.
The most beaten, broken, and bruised body of Jesus is the One most glorified, why? Because it was the image of how God would go to lengths out of desperate love to attain relationship with you and I again and show His devotion to His kids by giving us a companion in suffering as well as freedom from fighting any battle on our own. His ideal narrative being this one where He claimed victory for His children through the death and soon resurrection of His son Jesus Christ.
Application:
How do we apply this? We can honor the power of the cross by seeing what it stands in solidarity with us in, acknowledging Jesus’ companionship with us in our suffering. Take a moment to journal about the moments where you have been in darkness and pause to reflect how Jesus suffered in human form, so you would not go through human suffering alone.
Then, a prompt I have meditated on with our youth is . . .
Before the cross I was __________________.
Because of the cross I am ______________.
Pause and reflect and see what the cross brought you from and what the cross brought you into. Without the cross, we would not have the identities, hope, companionship, and life we do. But because of the cross, we have been given freedom, forgiveness, grace, and eternal hope out of God’s heart of love and radical devotion towards us. Take a moment to remember how radically devoted He has been to creating a new and better narrative in your story.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for enduring the cross. Reveal to me any ways I have been complacent to be grateful for what you endured for my sake. When I suffer and when I endure battles on this earth, remind me of your devoted companionship to me in suffering. Remind me of how you never desired for me to face anything alone, but rather with your ultimate victory and your moment to moment companionship at the forefront of your mind. Help me to think of you, the way you think of me, in every moment and every hour. Help me fixate on you and embrace your suffering as an act of servitude and love that I can never repay, but forever praise.
In Jesus name,
Amen
- Tess Schrupp
