With this seventh word from the cross found in Luke 23:46 we are reaching the end of the Lenten devotions for this year. Jesus has just announced that he has finished the task entrusted to him by the Father – the task of bringing the kingdom of God to earth as in heaven.

In his ministry he had demonstrated the prodigious love of God and his unimaginable acceptance and welcome of all kinds of humans. He had shown that God is a God of mercy and justice and not of petty law observance. And in a divine irony, it was precisely showcasing this character of God that had led to his being crucified. But in a double irony, it was precisely the move to silence him by crucifying him that had led to him completing his vocation of ushering in the kingdom of God and transforming the words nailed to his cross (Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews) from word of derision and mockery to the deepest of truths. This Jesus of Nazareth, who hung from the cross, was now, having completed his Father’s task, indeed the king of the Jews and the lord of the earth.

But this king was dying. He hung there, his physical thirst only matched and superseded by the thirst of God for his human creatures. And he hung there, each moment bringing him closer to the moment of death. On the cross, he had been enthroned as the sole legitimate ruler of all the earth.

However, none of the witnesses to this horrific event would have told you that at the time. His disciples – both female and male – and his mother were in shock. His opponents were in a celebratory mood. None of his friends or foes would have been able to understand then that this was not the moment in which Jesus was defeated, but the moment of his victory. To all appearances he was the one with the battered and bruised body and therefore the one who was in despicable and detestable desolation.

Jesus knew that he had won the victory. That is why he had cried, “It is finished.” The work of redeeming the old creation and of beginning the new creation was complete. But he also knew that he was going to die. And to all appearances he had been a failed messianic pretender, a wanna be deliverer, who had been revealed as a fake.

But without the knowledge of his victory, the world would continue to live in darkness despite being rescued into the kingdom of light. And so the world needed to know that the cross was Jesus’ enthronement, not his defeat. They needed to know that he had succeeded and not failed. They needed to know that his way was the way of God.

And Jesus knew that the Father knew this too. So, having declared his victory with the words, “It is finished” he now entrusts himself to the hands of his Father. His Father knew what needed to be done to reveal to the world the truth about the cross. His Father knew what needed to happen so that the people would see the truth behind the mocking words nailed to the cross – that Jesus was indeed the king of the Jews. Jesus had done what his Father had sent him to do. Now it was up to the Father to reveal to the world what had been done. And so, as his final act, Jesus entrusts himself to his Father, ending as he began by trusting in God’s justice.

Prayer:

Our loving, gracious Father. Help us to see in Jesus’ words from the cross the depth of his trust in you. And help us by the power of your Spirit to surrender ourselves to your will for us just as Jesus surrendered to you. Help us to see in his cross not just the way of our salvation, but also the call to join him in his task of presenting signposts of your kingdom in this world that still resists your loving and just rule. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.