Standing by the cross of Jesus
were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary
of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he
loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to
the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took
her into his home.
After this, aware that everything
was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus
said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So
they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his
mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And
bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the
sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their
legs be broken and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the
legs of the first and then of the other one who
was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was
already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance
into his side, and immediately Blood and water flowed out.
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Reflection:
How do you
feel after finishing a worthy undertaking? You feel good, fulfilled and
triumphant no matter how difficult the undertaking. This was the feeling of
Jesus when he said “It is finished” while dying in the cross. It was a cry of
triumph, at last it’s over at last it’s mission accomplished!
Jesus finally defeated the voice of Satan
who was whispering to Him not to finish His salvific mission. Jesus overcame
the many hurdles and temptation for Him not to pursue to the end His mission of
salvation. Finally, Jesus redeemed the sinful humanity from the enslavement of
sin.
However, it’s not finished for us yet, we
are still in this journey called life. We are still battling the many demons
that constantly whispers to our ears to commit sin. So, what are we going to do
to be able to say that, “It's finally finished!”
We have to be faithful to our Lord until
our end in this temporal world overtakes us. Then, when it comes, we can
finally say, it is finished because we have been faithful to the Lord. We did
not give an iota of space for Satan to distract us in our disciples with the
Lord.
Would you be able to successfully say, “It
is finished” when the sun sets upon you someday? It is finished because you
have defeated the many demons that were constantly tempting you to sin? –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
