Word of Salvation – Vol.50 No.39 – October 2005

 

Famous Last Words

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Steve Voorwinde on John 19:26-30

Scripture Readings:  John 2:1-11;

 

Dear Congregation…

INTRODUCTION:

Everyone agrees. Motherhood is a good thing. Everyone wants to honour mothers. For florists around the country, Mother’s Day is the day that either makes them or breaks them. The only other time they make anywhere near as great a profit is on Valentine’s Day.

Mother’s Day is the occasion where everyone is supposed to be happy, where there are smiles all around, where never is heard a discouraging word and the sky is not cloudy all day. At the end of it everyone (and especially mum) is meant to be content, thankful and happy.

That is of course the fairy-tale ending. The reality of motherhood is vastly different. To become a mother is to make yourself vulnerable. To be a mother is to expose yourself to the possibility of much pain.

* Tonight there will be a single mother, who will go to bed lonely.

* There will be the mother of the rebellious teenager who will end the day with an ache in her heart. What happened to that cute little baby that she doted on and for whom she made so many sacrifices while her friends went off and pursued successful careers?

* But there will also be the mother of successful children who love her but now live far away and whom she seldom gets to see. She, too, may retire at the end of the day with a heavy heart.

* Or spare a thought tonight for the aboriginal mothers who raise children in a context of poverty and violence. They may well go to bed fearing for their own security and that of their kids.

THE PAIN OF MARY

So it would seem even from these few examples that motherhood often involves pain and suffering. All too often it seems to go with the territory. Now let me suggest that when it comes to motherly pain, the person who knows more about that than virtually any other mother in the history of the human race was Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s quite a statement to make but I think it’s true. When does a mother suffer the most? It’s been my observation that mothers never suffer more than when they see their children suffer. This was foreseen by the old man Simeon when Jesus was just a few weeks old. He said to Mary: “Behold, this child is appointed to the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed – and a sword will pierce even your own soul” (Lk 2:34,35).

That’s where we find Mary in our text in John 19. Jesus may be nailed to the cross, but it’s as if a sword has been plunged into this mother’s heart.

It is in response to this situation that we have the first saying from the cross in John’s gospel: “Dear woman, here is your son”, and then addressing the disciple whom he loved, Jesus said, “Here is your mother”.

MARY AND JESUS

When you consider the context, these are amazing words. As William Barclay has said: “There is something infinitely moving in the fact that Jesus in the agony of the cross, in the moment when the salvation of the world hung in the balance, thought of the loneliness of this mother in the days when he was taken away”. (-quoted by Ridderbos, John, 612).

It was a powerful expression of love from a dying son for a widowed mother. Many years ago Bishop Ryle put it like this: “We are told that even in the awful agonies of body and mind which our Lord endured, He did not forget her of whom He was born. He mercifully remembered her desolate condition and the crushing effect of the sorrowful sight before her. He knew that, holy as she was… she must deeply feel the death of such a Son.” (John, Vol 3, 329-330)

In Jesus’ words to Mary there is also a message of comfort for us. In Jesus we have a Saviour of matchless tenderness and incredible sympathy. He always considers the condition of His believing people. The heart that felt for Mary is a heart that never changes. He never forgets those who love him and no matter how desperate our situation, he always remembers our need. Just as he cared for his mother then, so he still cares for us today. What a wonderful caring and loving Saviour we have. Therefore Peter could say so many years later: “Cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7).

But you may say, “Aren’t you giving a one-sided picture? Was Jesus always so kind to his mother? What about that situation at the wedding reception in Cana? All Mary does is to draw Jesus’ attention to the fact that they have run out of wine and she gets this polite but very distinct rebuff: “Dear woman, why do involve me?” (John 2:4). Doesn’t that sound a bit harsh?

That sounds very harsh. The NIV has softened the expression considerably. It would be more accurate to translate: “Woman, mind your own business!”

In the original the same expression is used in the other gospels when demons address Jesus: “Jesus of Nazareth, what do we have to do with you?” In other words, “Leave us alone.” Jesus uses very strong wording to keep his mother at arm’s length. This is one time when he doesn’t want his mum to interfere and he lets her know in no uncertain terms. But then in the same breath he tells her why. And this is the reason: “My time (or ‘my event’) has not yet come.”

To us that might seem like a very obscure reason for telling his mother off, but obviously Mary got the point. She turns to the servants and says, “Whatever he says to you, do it.” That gives the impression that she has coped rather well with Jesus putting her firmly in her place. She cops it on the chin and moves on, so to speak. And that’s true.

But there is more here than meets the eye. The statement she makes seems simple enough, “Whatever he says to you, do it.” At one level she is giving the servants advice, but at another level she is also addressing Jesus. You see, in these simple words she is quoting Scripture. And if you know your Old Testament really well, you might know where the quote comes from. Who was it that said to his people, “Whatever he says to do, you shall do” (Gen 41:55)? It was Pharaoh telling the Egyptians to obey Joseph when they had run out of food.

By using these words Mary is giving Jesus an indirect message: “Just as Joseph came through for the Egyptians, I know you’ll come through for these people.” She is linking God’s provision in Joseph’s day to the provision that she believes Jesus will supply in the present predicament. It’s a very positive reaction from a mother who has just been very firmly put in her place. It’s a reaction of faith – perhaps not altogether surprising from the woman who said to the angel Gabriel, “Be it done to me according to your word!” (Lk 1:38). It’s now thirty years later and her faith hasn’t faltered.

But even after all these years Jesus needs to remind Mary: “My hour has not yet come”. She is to mind her own business and stay out of his way because his time has not yet come.

And in John’s gospel that’s precisely what she does. In John we meet Mary on only two occasions – in Cana and at the cross. And when Jesus is on the cross we know that his time has come, his hour has struck.

This time Mary is involved. She is not rebuffed. She has a very important role to play. But what is it? Let’s think through the implications of these very affectionate words of Jesus: “Dear Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”

What is now the relationship between Jesus and this disciple? For the first time in John’s gospel they are now brothers. Earlier Jesus has referred to his disciples as friends, but after this he can call them brothers (20:17). Jesus is not their natural brother, but they become his brothers by virtue of his death. Because of the death of Jesus his disciples are not just his friends, now they are also his brothers. And Jesus uses Mary’s presence at the cross to make this all important declaration.

But let us think this through a little further. If the disciples are Jesus’ brothers, how are they related to God? If they are the brothers of God’s Son, it follows that they are also children of God. Finally the promise that is made very early in this gospel is being fulfilled: “To all received him, Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (1:12).

Now at last Jesus is keeping his promise:

* Because of his crucifixion those who believe in him are his brothers and sisters.

* Because of his crucifixion those who believe in him are the children of God.

THE FAMILY OF GOD

Here before the cross in embryonic form we have the family of God – his mother, his favourite disciple and other believers. As Jesus dies the family of God is born.

Think of what that means! Mary, the Beloved Disciple and the women around the cross were God’s family only because Jesus was prepared to lay down his life. How valuable, how precious these relationships must have been! They were relationships formed under the cross!

And the same is true of us. Our relationships have also been formed under the cross. We are God’s family because of the death of Jesus. I am your brother because of the death of Jesus. You are my brothers and sisters because of the death of Jesus. You are brothers and sisters to one another because of the death of Jesus. May God forgive us if we do not treasure these relationships.

How easy it is to take one another for granted. How easy it is for us not to see one another for what we really are. How easy it is to lose sight of the fact that we are the family of God through Jesus – through the death of Jesus. Not only is Jesus God’s gift to us, we are also God’s gift to one another. We are extremely privileged people. We are God’s family because of the suffering and death of His Son.

THE FULFILMENT OF SCRIPTURE

When Jesus had said to his mother “Here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother,” we are then told that Jesus knew that all things had been accomplished in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

The formation of God’s family at the cross was a sure sign to Jesus that his work on earth was done. This was a clear indication that the Old Testament had now been fulfilled. In his commentary C K Barrett explains it like this:

Jesus had completed all the work he had been sent into the world to do; the revelation and the deed of love were complete. Here is perhaps a special reference to the complete fulfilment of Scripture, with the note that one prophecy remains to be enacted (p 459).

In the crucifixion of Jesus the Old Testament is so fully fulfilled that even an incidental detail can be seen as the fulfilment of Scripture. When Jesus cries out, “I am thirsty“, it can be seen as an echo of the Psalmist’s complaint in Psalm 69: “And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (vs 21). This statement is fulfilled not only in Jesus’ cry of thirst, but also in the way that Jesus’ thirst was relieved. A sponge filled with wine vinegar was put to his lips. Vinegar being given to a thirsty man is not just an incidental detail mentioned in passing, it is another precise fulfilment of the Old Testament.

The same is true in all the Gospels. Again and again Jesus fulfils the role of the righteous sufferer in the Psalms:

* In Matthew and Mark he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s a direct quote from the opening line of Psalm 22.

* In Luke his last words are: “Father into your hands I commit my Spirit”, which is taken from Psalm 31.

* Now in John his declaration, “I am thirsty”, echoes Psalm 69.

We can assume that he does it all very consciously. He knows that all was now completed so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

JESUS THIRSTY?

For a crucified man to be thirsty might seem to be the most natural thing in the world. There is really nothing unusual about it. Don Carson comments that, “a man scourged, bleeding and hanging on a cross under the Near-Eastern sun would be so desperately dehydrated that thirst would be part of the torture” (p 619).

So thirst is what you expect to experience at a crucifixion. But if you have carefully read John’s Gospel up to this point, it’s the last thing you would expect of Jesus. A thirsty Jesus is in every way unnatural and unusual:

1. Jesus who had turned water into wine is now thirsty.

2. This thirsty Jesus is the one who had spoken to the woman at the well: “Everyone who drinks this water shall be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (4:13,14). Think of it. This water springs up from a parched Jesus. What sweet irony!

3. Or think of another claim in John: “He who believes in me will never be thirsty” (6:35). But Jesus was thirsty!

4. And then finally and most dramatically Jesus declared at the feast of tabernacles in Jerusalem: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (7.37,38). This Jesus who claims to be the source of an eternal water supply has now run dry. What irony! What paradox! But isn’t that the very hallmark of our salvation?

5. Through his death, we have life.

6. Through his suffering, we are healed.

7. Through his thirst, ours is quenched.

So when Jesus cries out, “I am thirsty” he fulfils Scripture. But he does more, he also fulfils the symbolism of John’s Gospel. Through his … thirst he demonstrates that he is the water of life.

IT IS FINISHED

But Jesus’ cry for a drink also serves a very practical purpose. The wine vinegar they gave him moistens his lips and quenches his thirst enough for him to say, “It is finished“.

Now in what tone of voice did he say that and what did he mean? You might be tempted to read it as a sigh of relief. Then the message would be, “glad that’s over”. He is relieved that the personal ordeal is almost past and he is about to leave all the agony and pain behind.

But that is hardly what Jesus meant. Let me explain that by teaching you a bit of Greek. Jesus last words, “It is finished,” are the translation of a single word in Greek, TETELESTAI. Now it is precisely that word that has already been used in verse 28. There it says (literally) that “Jesus knew that now everything TETELESTAI so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Everything is now completed.

Everything has now been accomplished.

My work on earth is done

It is finished.

So it is not a sigh of relief, it’s a cry of victory. TETELESTAI! It is done! It is complete! The Scripture has been fulfilled!

Leon Morris puts it like this: “Jesus died with the cry of the Victor on His lips. This is not the moan of the defeated, nor the sigh of patient resignation. It is the triumphant recognition that He has now fully accomplished the work that He came to do” (p 815).

And what is the work that he came to do? He came to establish the new family of God and in that small band of believers at the cross he sees the formation of that community. They are the fruit of his suffering. For them to be the family of God everything must be completed so that the Scripture would be fulfilled:

* All the innocent suffering of the righteous Psalmists culminates in the greater suffering of Jesus.

* As he dies on the cross Jesus is the Suffering Servant of whom Isaiah spoke.

* In his death Jesus represents the Passover Lamb and he is the one to whom all those Passover Lambs had been pointing forward for more than 1000 years.

* And finally in him the entire sacrificial system and ceremonial law of the Old Testament finds its fulfilment.

TETELESTAI!

It is fulfilled!

It is accomplished!

It is finished!

It is done!

With that, Jesus “bowed his head and gave up his spirit” vs 30).

John has a wonderful way of presenting Jesus’ sayings on the cross. When Jesus has spoken to his mother and to the beloved disciple, he then knows that everything is TETELESTAI. But he wants the truth of that to ring out and not to be spoken in a gasping whisper. So he lets his guards know that he is thirsty. With his thirst relieved by the wine vinegar he lets out the Victor’s last triumphant cry: “It is finished”.

APPLICATION

But now how does this message apply to us? How can you make it your own? I want to illustrate it along these lines. After the Bible was written, some time in the second century, the word TETELESTAI developed a new meaning. It often appeared on receipts with the meaning ‘paid in full’. In other words, payment has been made, the debt has been paid. It’s the kind of thing that you would love to happen to your HECS repayments, or to your mortgage. If you were living in the Roman Empire in the second century you would love to have TETELESTAI written all over these things.

Now this is John’s message: when it comes to your debts to God, this is precisely what has happened. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Forgive us our debts.” This is precisely what Jesus did for us on the cross. In the Old Testament people came with offerings and sacrifices, with goats and with lambs. But all of that is obsolete now. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. If you believe in him, your debts are cleared. It’s all been paid in full.

Can you say that about every sin that haunts you and that trembles your conscience?

* “I can deal with my lust because in Jesus it is paid in full”.

* “I can deal with my temper be cause in Jesus it is paid in full!”

* “I can deal with my envy because in Jesus it is paid in full.”

Forgiveness is the first step on the path to holiness. And because Jesus has dealt with my sin, I know that he has a place for me in the family of God. I am important. I am significant. I am a child of God.

CONCLUSION

In closing I would venture to say that in the world there is not one mother for whom this has been a perfect day. Some might think that it has been, but the truth is that in every family there is lust, grief, and disappointment. To an extent we are all bruised, broken, stressed and dysfunctional.

That’s why Jesus came to establish God’s family on earth. It’s made up of all those who believe in him and whose debts have been paid in full. Sometimes they can seem pretty fractured and dysfunctional too. But the secret is that God isn’t finished with us yet. One day every tear will be wiped away and every heartache will be gone. Peace and harmony, love and understanding will prevail forever and ever. Finally, human life will be what it was intended to be. Praise God!

Amen.