IT IS FINISHED

 DEATH OF CHRIST  JOHN 19:28-30

 Jesus knew that by now everything has been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true; he said “I am thirsty”

A bow was there, full of cheap wine; so a sponge was soaked in the wine, put on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted up to his lips. Jesus drank the wine and said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and died.

“I am thirsty” thirsty for love of humanity, thirsty to save humanity, thirsty for souls astray, thirsty for conversion wickedness and evil to goodness, thirsty because his last meal was the last super with his disciples where he ate and drank. That is if the meal was eaten with joy recollecting the bad news of his betrayal by someone closed to him, a disciple chosen by Him. 

"It is finished!” how often has the Lord mentioned that His time has not come.  Now having accomplished His mission he proclaimed that “it is finished”.  How often do we read this passage of our redemption and our eyes are clouded with tears?  “He bowed His Sacred Head and Died”.

 
(Matt. 27:45-56, Mark 15:33-41, Luke 23:44-49)

THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST

JOHN 19:17-27    So they took charge of Jesus. He went out, carrying his cross, and came to “The Place of the Skull”, as it is called. (In Hebrew it is called “Golgotha”.) There they crucified him; and they also crucified two other men, one on each side, with Jesus between them.

Pilate wrote a notice and had it put on the cross. “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” Is what he wrote. Many people read it, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far from the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.  The chief priests said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, “This man said, I am the King off the Jews.”

 Pilate answered, “What I have written stays written.”

After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took the robe, which was made of one piece of woven cloth without any seams in it. The soldiers said to one another, “Let’s not tear it; let’s throw dice to see who will get it.  This happened in order to make the scripture come true.

“They divided my clothes among themselves and gambled for my robe.”

And this is exactly what the soldiers did. Standing close to Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 

Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, “He is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, ‘She is your mother.” From that time the disciple took her to live in his home.

The highlighted is for those who said Mary the Mother of Christ our Blessed Mother has other children to ponder upon.

 (The Crucifixion: Matt. 27:3-44, Mark 15:21-32, Luke 22:26-43)

Interestingly Pilate, who was afraid when he was told that Jesus claimed to be a King, handed him over to be crucified because he did not want to offend his friend, the Roman Emperor.  At the death of Christ, he proclaimed him to the whole world as King of the Jews. This was his homage and tribute to Christ.

Do we say he was the first pagan convert before the evangelization of Christ’s apostles and disciples? “What I have written stays written,” He said. If we recall during his discussion with Christ when Christ told him about His Kingship and Kingdom, Pilate was afraid.  He knew that Christ was innocent that it was out of envy and jealousy that the Jewish authorities handed Him over to be sentenced to death.