“It is finished!” (John 19:30)
These were the famous final proclamation of Jesus before He gave up His spirit.
John 19 is a climactic chapter, detailing the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and His death on the cross– the bitter cup Jesus was afraid of (Luke 22:42-44). The crucifixion was recorded across all four gospel books. But only in John 19 does it record Jesus crying out “It is finished!”.
The bitter cup was truly bitter.
First, there was the physical pain of having His hands and feet pierced as He hung on the cross for three hours.
Next, there was the emotional pain. From the various betrayals by His disciples, Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter, to being publicly humiliated and scorned by the Jews (Matthew 27:28-31, Mark 15:17-20).
On top of it all, there was the spiritual pain. Having taken on the sins of the world from time past and time to come, Jesus felt the emptiness and sorrow of one who is separated by God (Mark 15:34).
Perhaps it was the most bitter cup there was.
Yet, Jesus’ final proclamation tells us that even the cruelest trial on earth was limited by time, and Jesus had successfully endured till the end.
Moreover, His proclamation wasn't one of resignation and defeat. Instead, it was a proclamation of victory! Because though He met with death, it was through His death and subsequent resurrection that God’s salvation plan was completed (1 Cor 15: 3-4, 20-22).
Likewise, in our day to day, we too may find ourselves faced with a bitter cup.
It may be a cup of physical bitterness like when we fall ill.
It may be a cup of emotional bitterness when we are let down by people whom we trusted or when we lose our loved ones.
It may be the spiritual bitterness of sinful habits we struggle against. It may even be a cup that ends with death.
But let us endure till the end, drawing strength from the words of Jesus– that if even the bitterest cup was limited by time, one day we may victoriously say of our trials:
“It is finished!”