April 22, 2011
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the CCU Good Friday Service at First Chinese Baptist Church, San Francisco.
On Monday morning I was heading downstairs to my office when my neighbor Herb asked how was my Palm Sunday sermon? I said it was good and that I was going to start working on this Sunday’s sermon. And he said, “Isn’t that your job?”
It never ends. In fact, this week, I was working on three sermons all at the same time! I think all of my colleagues sitting here can identify with me. It’s never finished. One of the major reasons for clergy burnout and why many quit the ministry can be found in the never-ending tasks of parish ministry. There is always one more sermon to be written, one more book to be read, one more hurting person to be visited and counseled. Is there no redemption for ministers?
That’s why I like gardening. I am blessed to have a reasonably manageable yard that I can go out now and then to weed, prune, and repot. When I spend 2 hours puttering around outside, I can stand afar and say, “It’s finished!” What a joy it is to have an ending, to be able to say it is over and done with, at least for the next two to three weeks.
Tonight my colleagues read the entire John 18 and 19 chapters that capture the betrayal, denials, the trial, sentencing, crucifixion and burial of Christ. But I just want to focus on one verse of the Gospel—Jesus’ last words on the cross. In this simple phrase, we see the whole theology of redemption for all of us including my friends who are pastors and ministers like me.
When Jesus says from the cross, “It is finished,” it could be read as a word of desperate surrender, of final resignation; I give up. It could be read this way. And while it took most victims longer to die on the cross, Jesus has fought quite a battle in his hours hanging in agony. Perhaps these words show that he has finally relented and given in.
Don’t get me wrong; there can be virtue in surrender. Some years ago, I was feverishly trying to complete my doctoral work at Temple University when I finally surrendered to the reality that I just didn’t have the steam or passion to complete my dissertation. There were other priorities that became more important to me and my family. When I finally came to the realization that just having this unofficial “ABD—All But Dissertation” was more than sufficient for my life, I was able to begin living faithfully for Christ again.
I heard a stock market analyst say a while back that it took a courageous investor to sell a losing stock. Most investors would hold on to an habitually losing stock, rather than sell, because the pain of losing money was much less than the pain of having to admit that you were dumb to buy that stock in the first place. Only the truly smart, truly courageous, and virtuous investor was able to know when to fold, when to surrender, when to say “I goofed.” But this is not what Jesus was saying here.
Finishing the Job
Jesus’ last words on the cross, “It is finished” is not about surrendering as much as it is a word of achievement and completion. I am hearing this word as the same word Michelangelo uttered when he put his last touch of paint on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It’s the same words when I say out of a tired body after gardening for 2 hours.
Jesus has fought the good fight, and despite what the soldiers, the politicians, and the howling mob before him think, despite even what his own disciples think, he has succeeded. He has done it. He did not say, “I am finished.” He said, “It is finished.” His work is done.
In Isaiah 53:12, we read, “He poured out of himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus didn’t die as a frustrated failed revolutionary. His death was the revolution.
In John 10:15-18, Jesus said, “And I lay down my life for the sheep…No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
On Good Friday, we have a tendency to focus on the horror and the blood, the defeat, and the death and we look at the cross and see nothing but the last, the end, the loss, but something grand and glorious is being worked out despite us. There’s no need for you or me to be busy trying to desperately to get ourselves right with God when Jesus is completing the work he was asked to do. It is finished.
I know that Jesus is often depicted in the Gospels as one of the most frenetic of teachers. He was always on the move, never staying very long in one place. A word here, a story there, a healing miracle here, and then off he goes to somewhere else. Now he is still, at rest.
How did he say, “It is finished”? I think he said it not in defeat—I’ve done the best I could now I give up, give in, and die. He said “It is finished” in victory—I’ve fought the fight, faced Satan down, and now my work is totally completed. The scapegoat, who took on the sins of Israel, marched out to Calvary to die, has now become the Lamb of God, atones for the sins of the world and now sits on the throne of God.
As Paul says, the only righteous One who knew no sin was made to bear all our sin that we sinners might become righteous of God (1 Cor.1:30). God has now finished the work that God began with us so long ago. God was determined, having created us, having loved us in so many and diverse ways, to get back to us. And now God has. It is finished.
What Should We Do
When we were in seminary taking our preaching classes, we were trained to leave the hearers with something practical and concrete as a take away. As purpose-driven, upwardly mobile, goal-setting, high achieving Asian Americans, we want something to do after hearing a sermon. Where’s my three-points to write down?
This message is asking you to do nothing.
Christ has done what we could not do. Because we could not get up to God, God climbed down to us, got down on our level, and here, in the bloody, unjust crucifixion, God has at last descended to our level. God has finished what God began. It is finished.
What now is to be done by us? Nothing. What might we learn from the lessons of this day? Nothing. What are we supposed to do for God before nightfall? Nothing. Did you hear his last words? “It is finished.”
There’s a C.S. Lewis story in The Great Divorce, in which the bishop dies and finds himself getting off the bus in some unknown place. “Welcome to heaven,” someone says to him. The bishop promptly presents himself to the person who seems to be in charge. “Where will we be gathering for the meeting?” he asked. (Bishops are addicted to meetings.) There’s no meeting, he is told. “Well, there must be a meeting. There is work to be done, good to be accomplished, problems to be addressed. We are responsible people who have responsibilities. When is the meeting?”
No meeting. No work to be done. No responsibilities to be met. It’s done. Over. Finished. God has done it all.
The story ends with the bishop boarding a bus bound for hell, eager to get there and get busy. Heaven is a place of blessed rest; hell is where the work is never done.
Most bishops, priests, ministers, pastors have been pretty busy this week. We keep busy, doing good, trotting back and forth from the people to the altar, sacrificing, working, conducting services. Last night our church and the Congregational church had Maundy Thursday service. This afternoon, there was the Cantonese Good Friday Service. Tomorrow morning, there’ll be a memorial service in the cemetery. And if Easter Sunday services were not enough, we plan a sunrise service at 7:00 in the morning.
We have all these services trying to contribute to our relationship with God. But Christ has done it all. Jesus said, “It is finished.” If the world only knew that the cross–that sign of humiliation and defeat–is God’s greatest victory, the world would be reconciled to God.
We are busy-bee sinners, so busy with our spiritual practices, our religious rites, our purpose-driven churches, our moral achievements that we are told tonight that there’s no more work to do. No wonder we call today “Good Friday;” you have to be pretty good to come out on a Friday night to come to church!
We in our busyness are forced today to sit down, to be still and know that Jesus is God, to be quiet, and simply to adore the wonder of his completed work on our behalf. Tonight we come to church planning to get on with the business of getting right with God only to be told by the church to do nothing at all but to be still, to sit, and to listen.
It is Finished
Besides the yard and garden that surround my house, there was the first Garden where the relationship problem between God and us first began. Here, we chose our wills over God’s will in which we rebelled and never looked back. Down through the ages, we always turned away from God. But in Christ, God has fixed this problem and finished the work.
So for all of us who are frenetic, spiritual busybodies and anxious, purpose-driven do-gooders, this sad relationship problem we have with God can only be finished by God.
Jesus is about to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. We are about to learn that discipleship is not first a matter of our doing something for God but a matter of having something done for us by God.
We run up debts that can’t be covered by us. The good news: the battle is done. The war is won. The debt is paid. It is finished.
Let us pray.
On this day, Lord Jesus, you climbed up Golgotha and suffered death upon the cross, for us.
On this day, you endured the humiliation of the betrayal of your disciples, for us.
On this day, you looked down and saw the crowd, the people you loved, scream, “crucify him!,” for us.
On this day, you stretched out your arms and, breathing your last, died, for us.
On this day, you cast your fate totally into the hands of your Father and descended to the dead, for us.
We gather tonight in great gratitude to thank you for your immeasurable gift of finishing your act of love, for us. Amen.
CCU Good Friday
April 22, 2011, 7:00 PM
*Welcome to our annual Good Friday CCU ecumenical English service; Pastors from three other sister churches participating tonight
*Church Roll Call—who is in the house!
*CCU Memorial Service on Saturday; CCU Easter Sunrise at the YMCA Courtyard, 7:00 AM with Mary Cheng preaching; followed by YMCA Annual Easter Breakfast; Easter services at your local churches
*Reception following tonight’s service on the 3rd floor
Benediction
Lift high the cross, the mark of our shame and our salvation.
Though it seems impossible, go forth in peace.
It is finished.
But keep your eyes and ears open.
It may be finished for tonight but we know that it is just the beginning of what is good news to come.
Amen.